If They Can't Have Each Other They Will Never Be Happy
by JMolover13
Summary: Emma and Regina are dating. Henry is not okay with that. Do they make the ultimate sacrifice for their son?
1. Chapter 1

**Rating: K+**

**Word Count: ~2500**

**Anonymous asked you: Most of the stories I've read Henry is happy that his mom's are together, what if Henry hated his moms being a couple and tried to break them up in order to 'save' Emma from the Evil Queen so she could meet a prince and marry so that he would have a dad.**

**Okay, just so you all are aware, the FB page, 'The Butterflies of Swan Queen' want to trend #swanqueen on twitter 2 hours—TWO HOURS—before the show on Sunday March 10, 2013. So do it!**

**AN: Alright. I just want to say that this is not like every other fic I have ever written… ending-wise. So, you have been warned.**

It started just after the curse broke. He first saw it when Emma invited his mom to dinner. There was an understanding or something between them, a look. He knew his mother was changing, but it was only so long before she changed back.

He was in his room. It was late. They had gone out on their 17th official date. Their 17th. He thought that he'd be okay with it by now. He thought he'd like having two moms, but there was something that his thoughts always rounded back to: She's the Evil Queen.

He had to save Emma.

If he didn't then his other mother would win. Evil couldn't win; that's not how it worked.

Good always wins.

He watched them walk up the sidewalk that led to the house he and Emma moved in after she got back from the broken fairytale land. She needed to have a place that was not with her parents and Henry didn't want to stay with Regina. He watched as Regina opened the front gate for Emma and walk her up the sidewalk, then he ran as quietly as possible downstairs. He had a spot in the kitchen that he could see from and knew they couldn't see him. That's where he went.

"I had a good time tonight, Regina." His mom's voice was weird; it wasn't hard and badass like normal… this was not good.

"Yes, I did as well…" He watched as his brunette mother traced the zipper lining of his blonde mother's infamous red leather jacket.

He watched Emma take the hand tracing her jacket, "Thanks for paying; I mean, we could have gone halfsies—"

"Nonsense." His brunette mother's face seemed serene, content even—it had to be part of some scheme. She had never been serene or content, "I asked you out for tonight, so I paid. You can get it next time. That's the deal"

He could tell from her tone that his blonde mother was smiling, "Alright, I will!" He saw Emma's hand reach up and her finger's trace Regina's face before wrapping delicately around the back of her neck and pull her in.

They were kissing.

First of all: Ew. Second: This could not be happening. Emma was the savior… THE SAVIOR! And Regina was… she was evil and probably heartless.

"So, I'll see you in the morning? For that budget meeting?" Emma's comment came after a few moments of silence, which Henry could just not stand.

"Oh, yes. The budget meeting. I have to be there." Regina smiled. Henry tilted his head in confusion… she was smiling. And it seemed the most genuine he'd ever seen at first, but something growing in his stomach told him that his mothers could not be together. There was something in that smile that was fake.

Emma took Regina's face in both of hers, "Hey." She tilted her head much like Henry just did, "I can tell when people are lying. Even through a smile." Her voice was still soft.

"I'm not just a person. I'm a witch." There was the genuinely fake smile he'd been looking for before.

"Regina." Emma kept her hold on the woman's face as she tried to move away, "That smile was the closest thing I've seen to real from you since I got here. But you're eyes were lying. You're scared. What are you scared of?"

"You."

…At least that's what Henry thought she said. That's what it looked like her mouth said.

"Me?" Yup, he'd been right. "Why are you scared of me?" Emma dropped her arms and put her hands on her hips.

His brunette mother's lip was quivering and it took her a couple attempts before she actually started speaking, "Because I feel myself falling in love. And when that happens, something detrimental happens and I lose everything. It's happened every time." She pushed from Emma completely.

"Hey," The blonde was pulling her back in, one hand on her hip and the other on her cheek, "Hey, Regina? Listen to me…" When the brunette stopped moving, the blonde continued, "You're never going to lose me."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Their 17th date only ensured Henry's belief that they had to break up. On a Saturday two weeks later he was eating breakfast in the kitchen. Emma came down and kissed the top of his head, ruffling his hair before moving to the shelf above the stovetop to get her own cereal.

"So, I was thinking," She sat down with a bowl and a spoon and her box of Count Chocula, "That maybe we could have your mom over for dinner? That'd be fun, right? Just the three of us? A family?"

"We're not a family." He said into his cereal.

"Henry—"

"We're _not_ a family. You're my mom and she's my mom, but we are not a family. We will never _be_ a family. I don't want you to call her family, mom. She's evil."

Emma had no idea what to do or say. She sat there, mouth agape with nothing coming out of it. Not even air.

Henry couldn't take the silence, so he—forcefully—threw his bowl in the sink and went upstairs to his room. His Xbox had just loaded when Emma burst into his room, slamming his door against the wall.

"What the hell was that?" She asked angrily.

"The truth." He got to the home screen of the game and clicked 'start'.

"The truth?" Emma asked, "The truth is that we'll never be a family?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because she's evil!"

"No. Henry, she's not." Emma's voice was barely above a whisper, "She's not evil. Not anymore."

"Yes she is. She's feeding you lies—"

"I can tell when she's lying—"

"She's going to make you fall in love with her and then she's going to crush you." He refused to turn around, "She won't care when she does. You'll be nothing. You'll be a bug." He took a breath, "And she can't do that to you because you're the savior."

"Henry, she's not going to crush me—"

"Yes she is! You just don't see it now because you're too close. Grandma, Grandpa, Ruby, Grumpy—everyone else can see it. She's told you before: She will destroy you if it is the last thing she does."

Emma walked in front of him, "Henry, you have no idea what you're talking about." She squatted so she could look at his face, "I am not going to leave her because you think that she's still evil… Even though I know you know otherwise." She mumbled the last part under her breath as she closed her eyes trying to think this through, "I'm falling in love with your mom kid. And isn't true love more powerful than any magic?" When he didn't say anything, she got up and went to the door.

"Only when it's true on both sides." He said after the door closed.

The next day Regina picked him up for lunch.

"Emma says you don't want us together?"

"No."

"Why?"

"She didn't tell you?"

Regina gave half a smile, "You're mother doesn't do well with words when she is too frustrated, angry or confused. And I think she was a little of all three of them yesterday…"

Henry nodded and turned straight to watch where they were going, "She's the savior." It was a simple three words and Regina already knew where this was going.

"And I'm the evil queen."

"Yeah."

"And you believe that this is some scheme of mine to crush her."

"Mhmm." Henry nodded along.

"And there's no possible way that I could just love her too?"

He thought, but only for a split second before answering, "No, you already had your true love… Emma needs hers, mom. It's not you. You had Daniel."

"Henry people get more than one chance at love…"

"Maybe other places… Here, Ruby's with no one because she ate Peter, Belle's with Rumple, Grandma and Grandpa are Grandma and Grandpa, Abigail's with Frederick, and Emma deserves to find her own Prince Charming." He looked down, "When she first got here, I thought it was going to be Graham, but he died. Maybe it'll be my dad after all…"

"And I'm just alone for the rest of my life? I get no other chance?"

Henry looked up to his mom, "Well, what have you done to deserve one?" He paused, "I mean, sure you're being good now, but it's only a matter of time, Mom…"

~0~0~0~0~0~

He knew that he shouldn't eavesdrop, but he couldn't help it. He was going to see his blonde mother after school when he stopped and listened in the station hallway to her and his other mother.

"Well that's ridiculous. Everyone gets another chance at love, Regina."

"He doesn't believe it's so. He doesn't think I deserve another chance. Maybe he's right."

"What? Regina, that's ridiculous—"

"I killed Graham."

"…You… What?"

He peeked inside to see them both. Regina had tears in her eyes and she was nodding, "In the old world I took his heart so that I would own him. And I told him that if he ever tried to run from me, then…" She looked away and shook her head, "And then you came here and he tried to run."

"Well…" Emma started.

"Don't." The brunette turned back to the blonde savior.

"Don't?"

"Don't do the forgiveness thing. I don't deserve it and you know it. Don't be nice and sweet with me, like you do. I don't deserve that either. I deserve what Henry thinks I deserve. I deserve to be alone and heartbroken for the rest of my life."

"No… You don't." Emma put her hands on Regina's shoulders, "You deserve love. And if you don't, I do, and I want to love you and for you to love me. So there."

"You can't always get what you want."

"Don't quote the great philosopher, Jagger to me." Emma said, "I will just quote him back."

"Excuse me?"

Emma didn't answer instead she continued with Jagger, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need." Emma pulled her in close, "And I need you."

"No." Regina swallowed hard, "You don't." She blinked to keep the tears in her eyes from rolling down her face, "You can easily get along without me. Henry can as well. I'm not needed in this world or any other."

"Regina, what… What are you saying? Are you ending this?"

"Yes. Henry—our _son_…" She let the words sink into the blonde's head, "Does not want us together. If I'm going to respect anyone's opinion on my love life, it's his. If he doesn't want me to be with you because I'm going to corrupt and ruin you, then I am not going to be with you so that I physically won't be able to corrupt or ruin you."

"But… You can't—You can't just do that!"

"I can, my love." She nodded, "And I just did." She started fading away, deciding she could leave faster if she traveled by poof than by foot.

"Regina!" Emma tried to grab her, but she was already gone, "REGINA!"

~0~0~0~0~0~

It had been a year.

Emma was still in love with the brunette, but she couldn't do a damn thing about it. Regina was in love with her as well. She knew she was.

Everyone hated Regina for a long time, but they didn't shun her. Most of the town was actually thankful that they broke up for the same reason Henry thought he broke them up for: She hurt Emma.

Regina had been able to show her face in public places for a little while now and she liked going to the diner at 9 AM for breakfast. It was pretty dead by nine and she could eat in peace.

Ruby set her toast and fruit and yogurt parfait in front of her. "Thank you, Ruby."

The lanky girl stared at the former mayor for a moment, "You're welcome, Regina." She said before she moved away.

Emma stalked in the diner. She didn't even bother pulling the stool out to sit on; she just mounted it and slumped forward. Regina watched with undivided attention as the blonde laid her head in her hands and waited for Ruby to come around to her.

"Hey, hey, Sheriff."

"Hey, Ruby." Emma didn't bother picking her head up.

"Why are you so glum?"

"Just tired."

"Uh huh." Ruby obviously believed nothing from the sheriff. "Bad date?"

"Of course."

"Why do you go on them if you know that they're not going to work out?"

"Because Henry." That's all that needed to be said.

Ruby leaned forward, "Well, how do you know that they're not going to work?"

"Because according to my son us fairytale people only fall in true love once, and my true love had already fallen in true love once… And there was the whole she used to be evil thing, but the fact of the matter is he just doesn't get it. I love her and she loves me and none of the rest of it should matter. But his philosophy is 'once evil, always evil', and he's too damn blind to see that Regina's done nothing but what he's asked of her since the curse broke and—" She slammed her fist into the countertop effectively making an echo throughout the (almost) empty diner, "I'm never going to be happy if I can't have her. And I can't have her, so I'm never going to be happy." She shook her head at herself as tears fell. Ruby cautiously placed a to go cup in front of the sheriff, "Thanks Ruby." She said before she moved out of the diner.

Ruby walked over to Regina with the excuse of filling Regina's coffee cup, "I assume you heard it all?" She asked while she poured.

Regina nodded, "Emma is not the most quiet or calm person in the world."

Ruby laughed, "No. But she is in love."

The former mayor stared at the table, "As am I."

"You're really going to let Henry keep you apart?"

"His happiness comes before mine. He's my son." Was all Regina managed.

"Do you think you'll ever get the chance to be happy?"

"I'm never going to be happy if I can't have her." The brown-eyed woman looked to the blue, curious eyes, "And I can't have her, so I'm never going to be happy." She dug into her purse and handed Ruby some money, "Keep the change."

**AN: I know. I'm a horrible, horrible person. Should I add a chapter with a happy ending? You tell me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I cannot express my gratitude and adoration for each and every person who favorited, followed and reviewed this piece. I have never seen such an overwhelming amount of reviews for a single chapter of anything I've ever written! I am so completely floored! I just hope that I can live up to your expectations! There are some things I need to warn you about…**

**I've planned another six chapters and an epilogue. I will be posting as soon as possible for each of them.**

**Also, this chapter and the next few chapters may or may not be uplifting and happy, but I promise as 86 of you have requested, there will be a happy ending.**

**That being said, I hope you enjoy.**

"Regina, what… What are you saying? Are you ending this?"

"Yes. Henry—our _son_…" She let the words sink into the blonde's head, "Does not want us together. If I'm going to respect anyone's opinion on my love life, it's his. If he doesn't want me to be with you because I'm going to corrupt and ruin you, then I am not going to be with you so that I physically won't be able to corrupt or ruin you."

"But… You can't—You can't just do that!"

"I can, my love." She nodded, "And I just did." She started fading away, deciding she could leave faster if she traveled by poof than by foot.

"Regina!" Emma tried to grab her, but she was already gone, "REGINA!"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma was a runner. She ran away from everything. Her entire life, anytime something got a little sticky, she would run away. She would run hard and run fast. That was why she'd lived so many places.

But the problem with all of that was she was running from. She was never running to.

Then she came to Storybrooke. She found family.

She found love.

And now, she found herself running again. But she wasn't running away in a sticky situation, she was running to something. She was running to love.

She couldn't handle it. Regina told her that things were over. They couldn't be over. She was just getting started. This couldn't be a happy ending. She wasn't happy. This was why she was pulling up to the mayor's mansion six nights later after work and before dinner with her parents and kid. She needed to make sure that the whole thing was real that it had actually happened.

She shuffled up the walkway and rang the doorbell. With her hands in her pockets she kicked the top step of the front porch a couple times before it finally opened.

Emma was the last person Regina expected to see. She was the only person on her mind, but she was the last person she expected to see. And seeing her in the flesh after what happened was almost like taking it all away. It was almost like time rewound for them. She was frozen in place when her brown orbs met Emma's green. Soon, she felt herself being yanked from the warmth of her home to the warmth of Emma's arms. She welcomed the lips that magnetized against her own as well as the feelings that came with the lips.

It was over all too soon.

Emma had pushed her back inside and stood firm yet anxious. She swallowed and pursed her lips before, "We still broken up?"

Regina didn't close her eyes like she wanted to. She knew that Emma would invade her senses again to make sure she was all right. Instead, she nodded slowly, sadly.

Emma chin began quivering as she tightened her lips into a sad smile. A single tear gathered in her right eye as she nodded along with the brunette before she ducked away, fleeing, running.

~0~0~0~0~0~

She'd made a pact with herself long before she and Regina even got together that she wasn't going to run. No. And that's not what she did a month before. She didn't run away. She gave Regina space. She shouldn't have gone in the first place, but there's only so much the blonde can handle before physical confrontation must be met with one Regina Mills. Apparently the maximum time span is not quite a month (depending on the month); it was 29 days.

It had been 29 days since she kissed Regina on her stoop, and here she was stalking her way into the mayor's office. She'd caught wind that the secretary was out sick. They mayor's doors were wide open—Well, let Emma tell you, when she got to those doors, they were going to be wide shut!

She strut into the office, took a quick look around to make sure there was no one else in there, saw Regina on the phone and tried to yank the door shut. Operative word being 'tried'. After two more times, she realized that the damn things had those stupid bottom locks in so they would stay open. She pulled the slammed! That time it worked. Satisfied with the first slam, she confidently threw the second door shut without falter.

Regina swallowed hard. Emma could see it from where she stood, "Kathryn, I'm going to need to call you back about that dress color; a work emergency just walked in." She hung up the phone and stood up.

Their eyes connected and Regina was frozen in place just like last time. Emma could see the effect she had on the woman and smirked. She strutted her way over to the brunette and kissed her hard. She wasn't letting anything distract from this.

The blonde stroked the brunette's cheek with her thumb after pulling away, "We still broken up?" Her tone was hopeful and steady.

Regina closed her eyes before she could stop herself this time, "Yes." She whispered and turned from the blonde, "We're still broken up."

Emma didn't say anything. She turned and stalked out of the office. She didn't slam the doors shut like she normally would, no. Instead the only sound made was the click of them coming together. She took a deep breath and blew it out as she walked for the main doors of the building.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Another 29 days came and went. The only thing on either of their minds were the two kisses they'd given and received in the last two months.

Emma was making her rounds this time. She saw the mayor at her apple tree and immediately threw the car in park. She grabbed her jacket from the passenger seat and got out.

Regina heard the car door slam shut and found Emma putting on that damn red jacket, pulling her hair from underneath, and of course, smirking as she strut with a purpose over to her.

Regina set her basket down as well as the apple in her hand. "I assume after all this time, you're not coming after my tree…?" As soon as she straightened, she felt herself tripping over a root as she was pushed into the trunk.

"No. You." Emma kissed her hard. It was better and more confident than the prior months. She pulled away, still with a smirk on her face and took the brunette in. After locking eyes, she asked, "We still broken up?"

Regina didn't say anything. She didn't nod. She only gave her a look.

Emma nodded and strutted back to her car.

~0~0~0~0~0~

This time Emma lasted only 18 days before she found herself tracking the mayor down. She was inside the diner, which did not work well for their whole broken-up-but-still-kissing thing. So, she stood outside and waited in the alley so as not to look awkward to passersby.

As soon as she heard the familiar rhythm of the mayor's heels, she steeled herself for the other woman. As soon as Regina was in her view, she grabbed her from behind. Regina, never one to be the victim in any manner, poofed out of the grasp and behind her attacker. She threw her hand out, making them freeze in the air.

Though when she saw it was the blonde sheriff, she let her down and stopped her magic. They fell into each other's arms and against the wall of the diner. They rolled against the wall further into the alley, fighting for dominance, fighting for the kiss to be longer, fighting for passion, fighting for love.

Emma finally won. She pushed Regina's hands above her head and linked their fingers together. Finally, she pulled away, "We still broken up?"

Regina shook her head as a tear fell from her face.

"You're giving in?" Emma's voice was hopeful. Then her brain caught up to her sight, "You're giving up?" Then Regina looked up blinking. Emma couldn't read her, "We still broken up?" She asked again.

"I hate that question." She shook her head again.

"I hate your answer to that question." Emma leaned in and stole another peck from the brunette as she dropped their arms and wrapped hers around Regina's waist.

"Emma we can't. He's our son."

"And you're my love." The blonde bit her bottom lip as her own tears came.

Regina choked the words out, "And you're mine."

"We still broken up?" the blonde's tone again was hopeful.

"Yes." The brunette barely got the word out.

~0~0~0~0~0~

41 days was the real actual absolute longest that Emma lasted without seeing Regina without giving in and finding her. And this time is was by happenstance. She was walking a familiar path in the forest, trying to get away from her parents, her friends, her job, her forced love life and even her son—the main enforcer of that forced love life.

She found Regina looking into the well. She immediately knew that she was thinking about the day she sucked up all that fairy dust to bring her and her mother back. They had talked about it on their third date.

"Don't lean too far over now." Emma said, surprising the brunette.

Regina took a breath and looked straight ahead in recovery before she turned to the blonde. Then in a flash of concern, she started looking around for more people.

"I'm hiding from everyone." The blonde supplied as she saw the other woman look about.

"Including your date with your new man friend?" Regina tried to make light with a joking tone. Normally, she wasn't afraid to show her jealousy. She just knew she wasn't allowed to be jealous anymore.

Emma could still tell no matter how hard she was trying to hide it, "Especially that asshole." She walked to the brunette and hopped onto the edge of the well, "Of course, I wouldn't have to be hiding if my girlfriend would just admit that she was my girlfriend…" She gave a raised brow; an expectant look to the brunette, who blushed and turned away.

"Emma…"

Emma leaned forward and clutched the brunette's hand with her own. They stared at each other and Emma gave her a sweet kiss, "We still broken up?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Kathryn and Frederick got married two weeks later. Regina was her maid of honor. She was damn beautiful. Emma didn't know how she snuck away from everyone at the same convenient time Regina did, but she knew it had to be some kind of sign. She stopped the brunette in the hallway and kissed her neck first this time. Then her cheek, and finally her lips, "We still broken up?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

The month after the wedding, Regina conducted the annual budget meeting. Emma knew the woman's pee clock better than Regina did. Gave the woman two minutes before she 'just so happened' to walk in. She watched Regina wash her hands and wipe them dry with a paper towel. They were staring at each other through the mirror the entire time before Emma finally walked over and kissed her, "We still broken up?" Her tone never waivered. Like it always was, it was strong.

~0~0~0~0~0~

In the next month, the Miner's Day festival kicked off. Everyone knew it was a fake festival, but they still liked to celebrate. Henry was running around with all of his friends, and Snow and Charming were mingling as any good king and queen of an old land would. That left Emma alone. She took a solo cup off a pub's promotional table and walked around a bit before her eyes fell on the mayor. She was standing alone, which wasn't a surprise. People respected her, but they didn't mingle with her.

Emma did. She caught the brown eyes and nodded her head for the woman to follow. They safely made it across the street to a darkened corner.

"You're beautiful in all that low light…" Emma admitted softly.

"Me? You should see you." Regina said seriously.

Emma leaned in and kissed her with a soft shyness that suddenly came over her, "We still broken up?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

The next four weeks found Emma searching high and low for Regina only to find her in her garden. The brunette was on all fours weeding. She had just sat back on her feet when Emma got to her and wrapped her arms around her waist. She jumped in surprise, but quickly settled, knowing exactly who it was. She turned to find the blonde didn't want to waste any time. Their kiss was brief but loving, "We still broken up?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

It was month ten that Emma realized they might not get back together. Henry had books to return to the library, but had a school project he needed to work on with his assigned group. So, after dropping him off, she got to make a trip to the library.

"Hello, Sheriff. Everything all right?" Belle asked as she came to the front from sorting books.

"Fine… uh… Henry needed to return these. There a drop box? Or…?" She looked at the front desk for any kind of sign.

"Oh, I'll take them." Belle held out her hand, "You sure that pensive look is only over a drop box?"

Emma swallowed and nodded, "Yeah, uh… Yeah." Movement caught her eye and she saw the oblivious mayor turn down an isle. "Hey, do I have to have like a membership or something to browse?"

Belle gave her an odd look before shaking her head, "No, feel free."

"Thanks."

Emma took off, in a calm-like fashion to the vacated corner Regina was looking in. She decided to hang out in the literal darker corner after stalking the mayor's oblivious ass for a few minutes. When Regina came out the isle she'd gone down before, Emma began singing softly.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaarion." Her voice was barely audible, but she saw Regina falter in her step to the next isle, "Madam Libraaaaaaaaaaaaaaarian." Emma followed her, she traced her fingers along the same books Regina had, "What can I do, my dear, to catch your ear?" Regina stopped and their hands met. Emma quickly wrapped her other arm around the brunette's waist and held her close, swaying to the beat of the song she was singing, "I love you madly, madly madam—" she stopped singing and stopped dancing. She finished the line by whispering, "Mayor. Regina."

Regina's jaw was clenched as she glanced to Emma, "I love you too." She turned in Emma's arms, knowing what was coming next.

The kiss was pleading, not yet desperate.

"We still broken up?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

By the beginning of month eleven, Emma was completely and utterly desperate. She showed up to the mayor's house at two in the morning. She'd been pounding on the door a full minute before Regina opened it completely frazzled. The brunette matted her hair down when she saw it was Emma.

The blonde pushed her way into the house and pushed her lips to the brunette's in her completely and utterly desperate state, hoping her last hope and wishing her last wish. Emma had laid Regina on the stairs and the single kiss turned into a full-blown make-out session before she got a hold of herself. She pulled away, tears in her eyes, the desperation clearly wavering her usual strong voice, "We still broken up?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

It was the last day of the twelfth month. Regina knew that if it wasn't going to happen then. It wasn't going to happen. If she were honest with herself, she knew deep down it wasn't going to happen. That they were going to have to actually start dealing with being broken up and not kissing in secret once a month. That she was going to have to start hearing about and seeing the sheriff dating and not be able to know that the men and women didn't have a chance.

That's what she had been thinking about before Ruby set her toast and fruit and yogurt parfait in front of her. "Thank you, Ruby."

"You're welcome, Regina."

Emma stalked in the diner. She didn't even bother pulling the stool out to sit on; she just mounted it and slumped forward. Regina watched with undivided attention as the blonde laid her head in her hands and waited for Ruby to come around to her.

"Hey, hey, Sheriff."

"Hey, Ruby." Emma didn't bother picking her head up.

Regina could only watch her from afar. She knew that if she made herself known that she would only break her more.

"Why are you so glum?"

"Just tired."

"Uh huh… Bad date?"

"Of course."

"Why do you go on them if you know that they're not going to work out?"

"Because Henry."

"Well, how do you know that they're not going to work?"

"Because according to my son us fairytale people only fall in true love once, and my true love had already fallen in true love once… And there was the whole she used to be evil thing, but the fact of the matter is he just doesn't get it. I love her and she loves me and none of the rest of it should matter. But his philosophy is 'once evil, always evil', and he's too damn blind to see that Regina's done nothing but what he's asked of her since the curse broke and—" She slammed her fist into the countertop effectively making an echo throughout the (almost) empty diner, "I'm never going to be happy if I can't have her. And I can't have her, so I'm never going to be happy." She shook her head at herself as tears fell. Ruby cautiously placed a to go cup in front of the sheriff, "Thanks Ruby." She said before she moved out of the diner.

Ruby walked over to Regina, "I assume you heard it all?" She asked while she poured a cup of coffee.

Regina nodded, "Emma is not the most quiet or calm person in the world."

"No. But she is in love."

"As am I."

"You're really going to let Henry keep you apart?"

"His happiness comes before mine. He's my son." It was all she could manage.

"Do you think you'll ever get the chance to be happy?"

"I'm never going to be happy if I can't have her." She looked to the blue, curious eyes, "And I can't have her, so I'm never going to be happy." She dug into her purse and handed Ruby some money, "Keep the change." She said before walking out herself.

She walked around the front of the diner to the alley. She knew that something had to be done. She knew that she had to get a kiss. And she had to keep getting kisses. She poofed to Emma's office. The chair was turned around, as it was when she liked to brood. She'd found the blonde liked being away from everything when she brooded.

"Emma? Darling, please…"

The chair turned only to reveal her son instead of the blonde. No, the blonde had not yet got back to the office. She had been walking into the office when she saw the purple smoke and decided to hang back and watch.

Henry's face was filled with hurt and anger, "You promised." He said as he stood up and walked around the desk to face her, "You promised you wouldn't be with her. That you wouldn't hurt her!"

"I know I did, son, but it seems I can only keep one of those promises. I can be with her and not hurt her or I can hurt her and not be with her."

"You have to do both!" in his anger, he puffed out his chest and bit his upper lip.

"Henry!" Regina's voice was pleading, "I love her! I'm only hurting her and myself by not being with her! Don't you see that?"

"Are you both hurting because you're not together or are _you_ just hurting and then deciding to hurt her because you're not together?" He crossed his arms.

Regina's tone was deathly serious. It dropped a couple octaves and a couple decibels as she took a step back and asked, "What exactly are you implying?"

"You have her heart don't you? You stole it, didn't you? It's somewhere in that wall. You go down when you're most lonely and squeeze or make her come to you, don't you?! I know she goes to find you sometimes. I'm twelve, I figured it out."

Regina's lip was quivering, her eyes were filling with tears blurring him as she looked at her son. She shook her head, "You told me to have faith in you in order for you to have faith in me… I've yet to see the latter. I don't have her heart. I'd never take her heart. I'd never harm her in any way. I love her. Why can't you see that?"

It was in this moment that Emma burst into her office, "REGINA!" She tried to grab her wrist to keep her in the office, but she was too late. Regina had already faded.


	3. Chapter 3

"REGINA!"

Emma straightened her stance as she stared at the area Regina had just faded from. She let the coffee cup fall to the trashcan before she turned to stare at her son, hands on her hips.

"Something isn't right. It's the only explanation!" Henry started before his mother could formulate a sentence.

Emma though, put her hand up to stop him. She moved her hand back once or twice as if conducting while she debated still on what to say. But she had no words. She shook her head and walked out of the office.

Just as she neared the main entrance to the station, her mother walked through the doors, "Emma! Hey, I just wanted to come by to—Oh! What's wrong?" Snow moved to hug her.

Emma put her hands up in defense and moved away from her before anything could happen, "Listen, umm… I can't really talk right now." She couldn't hide the cry lumped in her throat, "And I uh, I can't deal with Henry right now, can you and David take him? For the night? I need to…" She waved her hands around, "God I need to get out of here… Just for the night… Please?"

"Of course, Emma…" the concern and worry in Snow's eyes was all Emma needed to see before she turned away to the door.

"Thanks." She was outside and half-jogging away before the woman could ask her what was wrong.

After crossing the street, she slowed to a walk. She sniffled in an attempt to stop the impending tears. It was bitter out and crying would only make it worse; especially if the townspeople looked at her as they were passing her by. She zipped her coat all the way up and stuffed her hands in her pockets because there was no way she was going back to the station to get her keys for one of the cars. So, she walked.

She walked to Regina; she walked to love. She was done running away, and she was done letting everyone have their way in her love life. As soon as she rounded the last corner and saw the mayor's mansion, she started running. Dead sprint.

She leapt up the stairs to the porch in a single jump and practically slammed herself against the front door before she started banging on it.

"REGINA?!"

Nothing.

She kept banging. And the banging soon turned to pounding.

"REGINA COME ON!"

Again nothing.

She gave it a few more moments before she yelled again.

"I'M GOING THROUGH THE GARAGE!"

The blonde jumped off the porch and rounded the house to the garage. She quickly punched in the four-digit code and scrambled underneath the door as soon as it lifted enough for her body to fit under. Waiting for it to finish lifting so she could shut it again was longest wait of her life.

As soon as she slapped the button, she was shutting the door to the house and trying to decipher just where the mayor would be.

Then she heard it: The broken sob of the woman she loved.

She tried to run up the stairs but found that her thawing limbs weren't taking her as fast as she wanted, so she took them two at a time. Long strides finally got her to the door at the end of the hall and she pushed it open.

Regina was lying there, her body racked with sobs. Emma heard the sniffles and softer cries. Her knees almost buckled then and there, seeing her in so much pain. She moved into the room and got on the bed behind her. She could tell that Regina didn't feel the bed dip. In fact the only time she could safely say that Regina knew she was there was when she tried to wipe a tear away from the woman's face.

The brunette jumped, but at the same time, she wasn't fazed. Regina didn't think that it was Emma and Emma wasn't supposed to be with her. She only thought one thing after seeing the blonde, "You're so cold." her voice was strangled from her cries. She turned into the other woman and put her hand to the blonde's face, magically warming her back to a reasonable body temperature.

"I walked." It was her only explanation as she felt the magical warmth send tingles throughout her body. It felt so good it caused a happy moan to escape her throat.

Soon, she was so happily warm, she decided it was safe to take off her boots, coat, badge and gun. She turned back to the brunette and stared at her. It had been so long since she got the chance to just look her over.

Regina, of course felt like she was being scrutinized and picked apart, but she knew better. She knew that Emma was admiring—even if she had a runny nose, red eyes and tear-stained cheeks. She turned from her and sat up on her bed.

"Hey!" Emma's tone was almost offended. But as she watched Regina reach for a tissue, she let out an, "Oh.." and placed a gentle hand to the brunette's back and rubbed soothing circles as the brunette tried to collect herself to look presentable to her—Emma knew what she was doing, and it only made her smile.

As Regina lay down once more, Emma immediately laid so she was hovering over her. The blonde rested her head in one hand and let the other travel up the Regina's side then down the brunette's arm before taking her hand. She gave each knuckle of the not-so-evil queen a kiss then placed her lips against the top of her hand before moving to her palm. They locked eyes in that moment and Emma pulled her lips from Regina's hand then linked their fingers together. Regina wouldn't have been able to hide the smile even if she knew she was going to die because of it. This only made Emma smile wide, and that wide smile only formed into a grin when she felt the mayor's bare foot begin traveling over her calf.

"I love you." Regina was the first to say it this time.

"I love you too." The blonde's eyes glistened, but she held their stare.

With her free hand, Regina reached up and pulled Emma in by the neck. This kiss was healing. It was a kiss given by both to heal all of their wounds from the last year. All of their heartache. Healing soon turned passionate and their linked fingers broke to wrap around the other's body.

Eventually though, as they always did, the kiss ended. Emma pulled from the brunette and stared her in the chocolate orbs she'd fallen so irrevocably for. She gave the brunette a teasing, sad yet hopeful smile.

"We still broken up?"

Regina laughed a small, sad laugh and looked into the green orbs that she'd fallen so irrevocably for, then she turned away as a sudden wave of tears came through her.

"Henry…"

Emma shook her head, "No. Henry got his way for the last _year_. It's our way now."

Regina now shook her head, "He's not convinced! You heard him this afternoon, my love; he's convinced that I ripped out your heart! A-a-a-and he's, he's, he's I'm sure convinced everyone else that this is true as well—or at the very least, he's convinced them that each of us are only allotted one love and I've already had mine…" She took a breath, "Everyone closest to you feels that us being apart is what's right. And, darling his logic is sound."

"No. His logic is crap!" Emma's eyes were wide, "I could prove it to you! If you were anyone else. If you were the same person I know you to be, but in a different form, I bet our love for each other that he'd want us to get married. The only reason he's being a little bitch is because someone put evil to your name."

"Your mother." Regina stated. Before the blonde could huff and puff over that, Regina took her face, "Though it was after I'd tried to kill her multiple times…"

Emma let the words run over her and she conceded, "I guess that makes it justified that she dub you evil… But you're not."

"Not anymore, lover, no." Regina's tone was sweet.

"Because you love me." Emma smiled.

"And because you love me. Because you have faith in me."

Emma pecked her lips five or twelve times before her pulled back again and looked at her, "There has to be a way that we can be together… There has to."

**AN: Let me know your feels!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: A new character is introduced in this chapter: Reid. I picture him like Eddie Cibrian when he did "The Playboy Club" with a slight twist to his wardrobe. Hope you all enjoy!**

Emma woke up the next morning to her phone buzzing, and in a cocoon of covers and Regina. She grinned as she realized the buzz was only a text and not a call, and snuggled up to the brunette for a little longer. When the second text came, she knew it was time to answer her mother—Oh, she knew who was trying to get a hold of her.

She scooted to the edge of the bed and reached for her pants. Any other times she'd have to reach for her pants due to the woman next to her, she would have had a dirty grin on her face. But the night before wasn't about passion—though passionate their kisses were—the night before had been about reconnecting—strictly cuddling and talking and kissing. Only for it all to come to an end as she pulled the phone from her pocket and looked at the texts.

Henry is convinced you hate him and you're going to run away like you've tended to your entire life. You told me you needed a night. It's been a night. Come pick up YOUR SON and take him to school.

NOW.

Emma gave her phone a contemptuous, dismissive look and typed back.

Be there in half an hour

Her mother did not get a smiley face nor did she get punctuation at the end of her sentence. That would show her.

The blonde turned back to the stirring brunette and began placing a string of kisses on her cheek down to her clavicle, over her jaw line and to her lips.

"Mmm." Regina moaned as she roused completely and pulled the blonde in.

"I know." Emma smiled between kisses.

"What did your mother want?"

The blonde pulled away, "How did…?"

Regina only gave her a knowing look, "You should leave."

"I don't want to."

"Emma… What did we talk about?"

"I don't want to leave."

"Emma."

"I love you."

"I love you too, darling. But you need to leave. We have to do this right. And for that to happen, we can't see each other."

Emma nodded and gathered her clothes. She turned back to the brunette after she dressed completely, and kept her jacket in her hand. She inhaled and tried to say something, but nothing came out. She looked at the brunette then looked at the bed then out the window. She inhaled once more, and again nothing came out. Her foot started bouncing as she stood and she fidgeted with her jacket. She brought her gaze back to Regina and inhaled again. "G'bye…" She said as a sudden whimper came from her throat.

Regina was quick to crawl off the bed and make her way to the blonde. She took Emma's face in her hands and held her stare. She leaned in and gave her lips one single peck before she pulled away and wiped the blonde's teary eyes. "Stop crying, my love."

"I'm not the only one with waterworks…" Emma laughed through her cry and decided to wipe Regina's eyes to prove her point.

Regina turned and gathered herself before turning back around, "Okay… This is happening. You're going out my door and you're not coming back in. You're not going to hunt me down and we're not going to share kisses."

"Right." Emma nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. She pulled the brunette in one last time and held her tight, "I fuckin' love you even if I can't see you." She said into the brunette's throat.

"And I love you."

~0~0~0~0~0~

The blonde took a deep, calming breath as she walked the flight of stairs to her old apartment door. Everything was cool. She got to spend a whole night with Regina. She was completely rejuvenated, revitalized and refreshed. But then she had to leave for good, so she wasn't so refreshed and revitalized and rejuvenated.

Nevertheless, she took another breath and knocked on the door before she walked in.

"Emma! Right on time." Snow said as she put on her jacket. "Henry is just gathering his things."

The blonde nodded, but said nothing. Saying nothing seemed safe.

"Mom!" Henry ran over to her and hugged her.

She hugged back, but was stiff. She wanted desperately not to, because if she admitted that she was being stiff with him, then she'd have to admit that she was holding a grudge against her twelve-year-old son. And she really didn't want to do that. So, she slowly tightened her grip on him then patted his back, telling him silently to let go so they could move.

Snow noticed the lack of actual communication between mother and son. Henry didn't tell her specifically what had happened, just that he got in a fight with his brunette mother and Emma was angry. The walk was grotesquely silent, but that didn't stop her from trying to fix what was going on between mother and son.

"Emma, you'll pick Henry up after school, right? I have papers to grade so I will be a while."

The blonde only nodded and looked at the sidewalk, crunching a leaf between her boot and the pavement.

"Bye mom." Henry tried.

Emma waved without looking at him directly then turned to go to the diner for breakfast.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Ruby smelt her coming, but something in the air made her curious. Very curious. She set a mug of cocoa down in front of the good sheriff once she sat on a stool, and looked at her.

"I know that smell."

"It's cocoa, you just gave it to me."

"No…" She sniffed around Emma, "Vanilla." Another sniff, "And honeycrisp apples!" She gasped, "Emma!"

Emma glared as she shushed her and looked around, "Shut the hell up."

Ruby smiled, "I'm sorry, you just… You were both so sad yesterday… What happened?"

"What happened?" Emma looked down, tears in her eyes, "My kid tells his mother that he knows she's ripped my heart out and taken it for herself. That's what happened." She grit her teeth, "I just needed to make sure that she was going to be okay… I needed to apologize for him…"

Ruby looked as if she wanted walk away, defeated with her tail between her legs. "He really thinks that?"

"Yeah." Emma bit her lip as she looked into the blue eyes of the waitress, "I mean, she has done everything! Nothing is good enough for that child!"

Ruby put her hand over the blonde's in comfort, "It'll be okay."

"You sure about that? Regina officially broke it off a year ago today. I'd been sneaking around once a month or so, sneaking kisses and asking if she was sure. Last night she said 'yes'. But it wasn't like the other times. It was real. She's done with me."

"She loves you." Ruby said seriously.

"It's not enough." She downed her cocoa in one drink to keep the lump in her throat at bay. She wiped her mouth, "You got anything stronger? I just need to get through the rest of the day…"

Ruby set a shot glass out and poured tequila for the blonde.

Emma downed it and nodded her head, "Thanks." She got up and left the diner.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma was there to pick up Henry as she told her mother she would be.

Henry ran over to her, smiling and happy, "Hey mom. How was work so far?"

Emma shrugged and started walking towards their neighborhood.

"You gonna go back after you drop me off?"

Emma nodded, keeping her eyes on the sidewalk before them.

"Okay…" Henry had the decency to wait until they got home before he cried out, "Mom! I know you think that it's bad, what I did, but it's how it's supposed to be! Please talk to me!"

Emma, who was in the kitchen fixing a sandwich to take with her back to the station slammed the refrigerator door closed then slapped the front of it angrily, "You wanna talk? Let's talk. Where do you get off accusing your mother of literally ripping people to pieces after everything she's done for you? What kind of little shit does that? I know you think you know what you're talking about, but you know what? You're 12 years old and you don't know everything. You know nothing actually."

Henry's brows narrowed, his own anger coming to the surface as he stood behind one of their kitchen chairs watching her every movement. Not for fear of his own safety, but rather as a study for his theories on the curse and the savior, "Actually, I knew we were a cursed town because of my mother. I knew you were the savior and you had to save us from her."

"Save you from her or her from you?" She raised her brows, "Because the only evil I've seen in _this_ land, in _this_ town is from a boy pulling away from his mother calling her evil when she's only ever loved and doted for him."

The boy was relentless. He shook his head, "NO! Mom! You don't get it! You're supposed to save the town from her, not fall in love with her! She's going to hurt you if you do! You're supposed to marry a prince and we're supposed to live happily ever after."

"Well, sometimes saviors fall in love with evil queens instead of gallant princes. Get over it." She opened the refrigerator once more and started rooting through for her meat and cheese.

"No! Mom! You can't! If you do, good will never win! You have to marry a prince charming! Like Grandpa! You have to!"

"WHY?!" The blonde threw down her chicken and Muenster slices on the counter and went back into the fridge, not wanting to see his face as he explains yet again, the ins and outs of fairytales.

"Because it's the rules! The prince always saves the princess. Your prince has to be twice as good and charming as any other prince because you have to save all of us! See? He can't be my mom because she's not good or charming, she's sinister and malevolent."

"Actually I think Maleficent is malevolent, and your mom is hardly sinister."

"Yes she is! Ask grandma about all the times she tried to kill her!"

"In this land? In this world? Has your mother laid a hand on Snow Freaking White?"

"She framed her for Kathryn's non-murder."

"No, that was Rumple. Regina and Kathryn are friends. Regina was Kathryn's freaking maid-of-honor."

Henry picked up the chair he was standing behind and slammed it back on the ground. He was huffing and puffing and red in the face. "YOU CAN'T LOVE HER! THERE IS NO WAY THAT YOU CAN! IT'S NOT HOW THIS WORLD WORKS!"

Emma stared at him for a full minute, "I know that you think that. You've convinced everyone of it…" She gave a pithy, pathetic half laugh as she used the words of Regina from the day before, "Your logic is completely sound. You've even convinced _her_ that she's not good enough! That she's not good at all!"

She glared at him, "So you win Henry! You can run and jump around happily because your mother is never going to see me again. You were right. She destroyed me and it was the last thing she did because it destroyed her too. She refuses and will refuse to speak or even look at me from now on. And I will actually try when you and Snow and Charming and whoever else decide to set me up. Okay?"

The blonde took a heated few breaths to stop herself from completely losing it, "Go to your damn room. Your ass is grounded for the next three weeks for yelling at me in that superior attitude you've developed. You're not superior. We're not in the other land. We're not royalty, and I guaran-damn-tee that if we were, and if everything was all light and fluffy, you still wouldn't be allowed to walk around like you're better because you're not. You're a person, you're a being. Just like everyone else. Think about that over the next few weeks."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Another three months came and went. Emma didn't see Regina. She knew she'd get in all kinds of trouble with everyone including herself if she did. Emma and Henry were still on shaky ground, butting heads, but things were getting better. She dropped him off at school and went to the still busy diner for breakfast.

Ruby set down her Belgium waffle, hashbrowns and scrambled eggs, and had moved to grab the blonde some juice when her sniffer started going off.

"Honeycrisp and vanilla." She muttered to herself. She stared out the window, waiting for Regina to walk up see Emma and turn around like she'd done for the last month, but she never came. "That's odd…" She said aloud as she set the juice down in front of Emma.

"What is?" The blonde turned to the door.

"Nothing, I just…" Ruby was still staring.

"You just…? What?" Emma gave her a weird questioning look.

"I thought I smelled… Someone. But it doesn't even make sense because it's not even time yet. Well, maybe it is.." She muttered the next sentence, "For the run away.." She started explaining again, "There are lots of people still here and…" She looked off to the side.

"Is this person Regina?" Emma gave her a knowing look. "It's okay. You can say her name. I'm not going to fall apart. I already did that. I'm moving on. Hell, I've moved on." She shrugged and dug into her eggs, mumbling around them, "After only a few months…" She shoveled more in her mouth and swallowed quickly to hide her timid, sadness.

Ruby sniffed the air again, but got confused. She thought she smelled Regina's scent. But now she smelled more masculine scents: various woods and polishes, metals—strings! Definitely strings for some kind of instrument, cinnamon was also mixed in there and everything was doused in a divine man-musk that confused Ruby to no end. She knew she smelled Regina buried somewhere under all of the rest, but she couldn't decipher specifically where she was. Or why she thought she smelled the woman with all of it. She hoped Regina didn't show up with some guy. That would be the worst.

She closed her eyes trying to figure it out a moment, but as soon as the bell chimed, she looked up to see who was coming in. It was a strapping, handsome, completely sexy in anything he wears (or doesn't wear) kind of man. He had chocolate brown eyes and dark hair. The sides were shorter than the top; it was classically tapered to what seemed like perfection. He was tanned naturally and well built. He seemed to be dressed like an indie-rocker-nerd-businessman, and the sexiest part was that he pulled it off.

"Oh my!" She covered her mouth after she said it. Mainly out of embarrassment due to the fact that the man looked at her with a grin that showed his dimples—and holy gods dimples never looked more sexy—in effort to thank her for the 'compliment' and calm her nerves. She leaned forward and shielded her eyes from him, "Oh my gods, he is soooo cute!" She whispered to Emma before she recovered and looked back up at him, "Hi! You must be new here, I'm Ruby."

He blushed a bit before finally saying, "I'm uh….Rrrrreid."

"Reid? Where have you been the last 30 years?"

Reid smiled, "I was around, I just never came in here." He shrugged as he moved to the diner counter after surveying the limited number of vacant tables and sat a stool away from Emma, "Now that everything's changed, I decided to open up a music shop down the street, so…" He smiled again, causing Ruby to blush a bit and Emma to roll her eyes, "I guess now I'll be coming around here."

Emma turned to see what Ruby was practically panting over. _Holy—_"Wow." The blonde could not believe she said the word aloud. Once she realized she did she quickly turned back to her eggs and began shoveling them in her mouth.

Reid smiled her direction as well and Ruby could already smell the pheromones running rampant between the two of them. She turned to give them a moment and poured Reid a cup of coffee.

"Sheriff Emma Swan." Reid moved to the vacant seat between them and stuck his hand out, "I never thought I'd get the pleasure; you're a very busy woman."

"That I am, music shop owner, Reid." She took his hand and stared into his eyes.

They held each other's stare a long while. Ruby interrupted by slamming the saucer down on the counter then the mug of coffee, causing them to jump and release each other's hand.

"Sorry." She singsonged.

"It's alright…"

They smiled at each other once more, and the smile was almost like they knew each other… but that wasn't possible. Then Reid turned to the waitress and ordered his food to go.

They didn't talk as Emma kept a fixed stare on her plate and ate slowly while Reid waited on his food, but Ruby did notice that despite Emma leaning toward her right side while she ate, her left arm seemed to stretch a bit to the man. She also noticed Reid's right hand subtly inch its way to the blonde's left. And she noticed that once the tips of their pinky fingers touched neither made a move to advance further nor retreat.

Had Emma already met him? No, because there's no way that would have happened without her knowing. But, she didn't flirt, and she wasn't cute like that all willy nilly. It added more confusion to her already confused brain.

Ruby set Reid's breakfast in front of him, "Here you go, Reid." She smiled flirtatiously despite what she saw—or thought she had seen—at this point, she wasn't sure if she could trust what she thought she was seeing, hearing or smelling.

"Thanks." Reid smiled, bringing those dimples out again. He turned to Emma, "So maybe I'll see you around sometime?"

The blonde smirked, "Maybe you will." She gave a flirtatious raise of an eyebrow as they shared one last look before he left.

"Emma Swan!" Ruby looked at her, "Were you flirting?"

"So what if I was? Technically it's been over a year since me and Regina. I should be moving on." She sat back a moment and looked at her, "I woke up this morning and had a feeling that something was going to change for the better… But I did not think that something was a music shop owner…"

The door chimed again and Reid came back in with his sack and everything.

"Something wrong?" Ruby asked looking at the sack.

"What? No…" He shook his head and walked over to Emma again, "Listen, back there, a little bit ago, I was trying to be all smooth and suave and what have you. But the truth is, I'm not so into that kind of smoothness. I'd rather a direct, frank conversation. I didn't mean like 'maybe I'll see you around' in a literal way. What I literally want is to see you again." He inhaled and let out a shaky, nervous sigh, "Sheriff Swan, would you like to go on a date with me? I know we don't know each other all that well, but I like you, and I can tell that I'm going to keep liking everything about you. So… will you?"

Emma opened her mouth in shock at first. She didn't know what to say. She didn't really think it was happening. And it was honestly kind of adorable the way he went about it. She looked to see Ruby's surprised and awed face before she looked at him once more, "When and where?" She asked with a slight smirk.

"This Friday at seven?" He asked, "You could drop by the shop maybe? Or we could meet here? Or! Or, I guess the more appropriate thing would be for me to pick you up, but I don't know where you live or if I'd need to go to the station, which is a little intimidating. Sorry, I prattle on when I get super nervous."

Emma was smiling wide at the man, "How about I show up at your shop at seven on Friday? Alright?"

"Okay." He nodded happily and walked out of the diner once more.

The crowd in the diner turned from staring at Reid and Emma to their company and the gossip mill was aflutter with rumors.

Emma finished her meal in a relatively calm manner before she stood, dropped some money on the counter for Ruby and waved her thanks and goodbyes to her friend before heading to the station.

~0~0~0~0~0~

She knew that the rumor mill traveled fast, but she didn't think it traveled faster than light. She got her office to find her mother sitting in one of the seats facing the desk.

"Uh… What… is everything okay?"

Snow looked up with a smile, "I heard on my way to school that you were flirting with the new music shop owner? Then I heard that you made a date with the music shop owner?"

"I… That just happened like fifteen minutes ago!—Wait.. Shouldn't you be in school right now?"

"I called and told them I would be late; they knew I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh my God… The entire school knows that I'm going on a date with Reid?"

"Reid?" Snow smirked.

"Mary Margaret…" Emma shook her head and looked down.

"I'm sorry. I'm just excited for you. You haven't been out willingly in so long." The pixie cut woman stood up, "I didn't think I'd ever see the day…"

"Well you did. Goodbye. Go to school. I'll see you later."

"You know that we're going to have to go shopping for an outfit for your date with Reid. Where is he taking you?"

"I don't know." Emma stood and walked her to the door, "When I do, I'll let you know. You need to go broaden students' minds. I need to do a mountain of paperwork." She shut the door behind her mother then walked to her office and closed it as well. She sighed as she slid down the door. "I am in way over my head." She whispered to herself.

**AN: Let me know your feels!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: So, all of you saw through my, as I've been calling it, inconspicuously obvious plot twist, which I had a feeling you would, but I was hoping to catch at least a few of you off guard! I hope you enjoy!**

**Oh, and the song sung in the chapter is "Hold You In My Arms" by Ray LaMontagne because of reasons.**

Emma and Henry were sitting at the kitchen table. Emma had just poured some Franken-Berry cereal and Henry opted for Boo Berries and Count Chocula.

"Mom?"

"Yes, kid?"

"You like Reid, right? Like, you like him, like him?"

Emma stopped mixing her milk in with her pink cereal and gave him a look, "What's wrong with him?" she asked deadpan.

"Nothing that I know of… I just… When do _I_ get to meet him?"

She scratched her brow, "Uh, sometime soon. I promise."

"Does he not know about me?"

"Does he not know about the Sheriff's son that was adopted by the Mayor, ran to Boston to come get the Sheriff to bring back and save all the fairytale people?" She gave him a look, "I'd say it's safe he knows. If not for that reason then the fact that we've talked about you is a dead ringer that he knows."

"Okay!" Henry had a grin on his face, "I just want to meet him that's all…"

"And you will. Soon." The blonde stuffed a mouthful of cereal in her mouth.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Henry waited just inside the door until his mom left for the diner before he took off running the opposite direction. He ran all the way to the candle shop across the street from the music shop and tried to see in. He looked and looked and finally saw the sign flip from 'Closed' to 'Open'.

Quickly making his way across the street, he ducked in front of the storefront windows and peeked inside again to see if he could pick out Reid. There was only one guy in there. He was handsome, but not as handsome as everyone was saying. He walked in anyways and looked around.

"Can I help you?" A confused voice asked him as he stared at some of the guitars.

He turned and sized the man up, "Are you Reid?" Henry asked as he put his hands on his hips.

The man laughed, "No, I'm Robby. I'm the manager. Reid is at breakfast with his girlfriend." He crossed his arms suspiciously, "I'll be that you are his girlfriend's son, right? Henry?"

"Yeah." He deflated a bit, "Please don't tell my mom! I'll get in trouble."

"No worries." Robby promised, "How about you get on to school, and mums the word."

Henry nodded and left the building. By the time he would get to school, his first two classes would be over, and they would call his mom to ask why he came in so late. He couldn't go to school then. So, he decided that he would go see his other mom. She wouldn't make him go to school and she wouldn't tell Emma. And she would probably be happy to see him—that is if she loved him like she said she did. It was the perfect fallback plan.

He walked the few blocks over to City Hall and wound his way through the hallways to the mayor's office. He saw Gayle the secretary and smiled as he made his way passed the desk only to be stopped by the locked doors.

"Why are the doors locked?" He turned to Gayle and asked with wide innocent eyes.

"Some people still try to come and try to hurt her." Gayle shook her head, "Those mongrels think she's the person she used to be." She pushed her feelings aside and smiled to the boy, "I'll let her know you're in, love."

Henry nodded his head with knit brows as he turned back to the doors. "Person she used to be? What does that mean?" He shrugged it off, putting the confusing words to the woman's old age and waited.

Not a minute later, one of the doors was pulled open and his mother was standing there with a concerned expression, "Henry? Are you all right? Why aren't you in school?"

Henry skipped over with a shrug, "I wanted to see you." He hugged her. He smiled happily when she automatically held him tight.

"Well, come on in. I want to hear everything you've been up to."

"Well… Mom's got a boyfriend now."

Regina's smile fell as she looked at him and then, after a few blinks too many, she nodded, "Is he good to her? To you?"

"He's… I don't know. I haven't met him. I wanted to meet him today, but he was with mom already when I got to his shop. I think he makes her happy. I think he just might be her prince charming. But I still have to meet him to determine for sure."

"So I guess she does have her heart after all." Regina gave him a look as her eyes filled with tears.

"Yeah…" he fell into hug her, "I'm sorry Mom. It was just the only thing that made sense…"

Regina said nothing, but held on as long as possible.

Henry pulled away soon after, "So, what have you been up to?"

"Oh, I've just been working on my mayoral duties. Though I have tried to set aside some time to offer magical remedies and advice in that area as well as work on a spell or two of my own."

Henry scooted further from her, "What kind of spell?"

"Healing spells, Henry. Spells are good, curses are bad."

He relaxed, "Oh. Right."

"Since I have extensive knowledge in the dark arts, I can help tweak potions and remedies to heal faster and better than any dark potion or harmful substance can damage…" She gave him a serious look, "I'm trying everything I know how for you to see I've changed, Henry."

Henry nodded and looked at his hands, "I know."

~0~0~0~0~0~

When Saturday hit, Emma decided that it was time for Henry to meet Reid—especially considering the kid skipped school just to do it (which he was so going down for), didn't succeed, and had been harping on her ever since.

They heard music coming from the shop, which was not out of the norm for the music shop to demonstrate its supply of awesome speakers, but this music was softer, it was happening in there in that moment.

Emma pulled the door open and Henry darted in to try and pick out Reid. It was quite easy for Henry to pick Reid out seeing as there was only one other person in the shop and it just so happened to be the person playing the guitar and singing. And he really knew it was Reid when he looked up at his mom to see a dazed smile on her face as she stared at him.

They walked over during a guitar break to listen to him, and Reid looked up and a megawatt smile brightened his face as he started singing again, "So now we see how it is, this fist begets this spear. Weapons of war symptoms of madness. Don't let your eyes refuse to see. Don't let your ears refuse to hear. Or, you ain't never gonna shake this sense of sadness. I could hold you in my arms. I could hold on forever. I could hold you in my arms, oh. I could hold on forever. Mmm." He continued playing, his eyes locked on Emma.

Henry was grinning wide. This is what love was. This is what all the stories talked about.

"Hi." Reid said with a grin before he set the ebony acoustic Gibson Dove back on its stand.

"Hi." Emma's grin matched Reid's as Henry took a step from her to let them greet.

Reid gave the blonde a big bear hug and looked to Henry giving him a wink by way of greeting until the blonde let him go. Emma pulled from him but took his face in her hands. She leaned forward and nuzzled her nose to his, giving him the best Eskimo kiss he'd ever had. She laughed when she felt him panic then relax.

"Did you think I was going to kiss you with an audience?"

Reid shrugged, "You are ever-surprising." He smiled as he looked to Henry once more, "Hi, I'm Reid." He stuck his hand out.

Henry took it, "Henry."

"Henry!" Robby came from the back with a box of supplies to fill the hangers of their smaller products like strings, picks etc. Robby gave him a knowing smile, "I know you!" He pointed to the ten-year-old then looked to everyone else in the room, "Oh, hey Emma."

Emma smiled then turned to Henry, "How do you know Robby?" Little did the boy know she already knew.

Henry didn't say anything, he just turned to Reid, "Do you play other instruments?"

Reid looked up to Emma, who crossed her arms, knowing Henry could feel her mom-glare. He decided to help the boy out and answer him, "I do. I can play anything on these two walls, and a little drums and piano." He looked to Emma again as Henry moved to the wall that contained all their acoustic instruments, and gave the blonde a wink. He muttered, "He'll tell you when the day is done. You know that. Let him enjoy it. He's been asking to meet me a while now…"

"Hmph." Emma gave Reid a look, but squeezed his hand before she went over to talk with Robby.

Reid walked over to Henry, "You see anything you might want to learn?"

"I don't know…" Henry turned from the ukulele and looked at Reid in the eye; his demeanor suddenly changed, "How do you feel about my mom?"

"I think she's great."

"Do you love her?"

Reid turned around quickly to make sure Emma was on the other side of the room before looking back to the boy, "I do. I've fallen irrevocably in love with her. I'm passed the point of no return in love with her."

Henry nodded, believing him. He crossed his arms, "Who were you in the other land?"

"My name was Reid there as well. I'm not a famous fairytale like your grandparents. I was just part of the crowd for the most part…" He shrugged.

"Well… Where did you live?"

"My job took me all over. I got to travel the lands. I was a favored lutenist."

"What's a lutenist?"

"A musician that plays the lute."

"What's a lute?"

Reid walked over to the top left of the wall they were standing next to and grabbed one of only two lutes he had in the store, "This is a lute."

"Oh, yeah! That funny looking guitar that is always shown in medieval times." Henry nodded and looked at him, "That's cool. Were you good or bad in the other land?"

Reid knit his brows, "I suppose I was more good than bad. I was never really made to test myself in that area, but I would stop thievery when I saw it and help when I could…"

"Well, if you love my mom, you have to be extra good because she's the savior."

Reid nodded, "I'll tell you what, I will do everything in my power to keep her happy. I'll defend her only when she needs it—though we both know that will be rare and it will in fact only be when absolutely necessary because she'd sooner punch me in the face than let me protect her unless she was desperate… I'll stand next to her always, and make sure that she is loved forever. That work?"

Henry smiled wide, "That's perfect!" He ran over to Emma when Reid turned to put the lute back, "MOM!" He said interrupting her conversation, "I like him."

Emma gave him a half smile, "Good."

The door chimed and Reid turned to the patrons, "Can I help…you—Snow White and Prince Charming?" He seemed to freeze in place.

"OhhhhMy God." Emma's tone was dry as she cut her parents off from moving to Reid, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, your father was considering taking up guitar lessons, and seeing as this is the best place to buy a guitar…" Snow said. She looked behind Emma to see Henry talking to Robby, "Are you Reid?" She asked him.

Robby looked up, "Man, brother, we must spend too much time together because she is about the 25th person this week alone to ask me if I'm you." He looked from Reid to Snow White, "No, your majesty, I'm Robby, I'm just the manager."

"And I'm just Mary Margaret or Snow here." She smiled at him before turning to the real Reid, "And I assume by my daughter's protective stance in front of you that you are Reid?"

Reid nodded as he looked from Snow to the silent Charming. Henry walked over to his grandfather and watched him look Reid up and down, his crossed arms a method of intimidation, which seemed to be working.

"It's okay Gramps. I got it taken care of. He's good. I like him."

Charming looked down to Henry and considered his grandson's words before he finally cracked a grin, "Well, if he passes with Henry, he passes with me. Hi, I'm David, it's a pleasure." He stuck his hand out.

Reid took the man's hand, "Reid."

~0~0~0~0~0~

As soon as Henry and Emma walked through their door that night after spending the whole day with Reid, Henry turned around and hugged Emma as hard as he could.

"What's all this?" Emma asked him.

"It's thanks for moving on from my mom." He said as he pulled back, "If you didn't, you would have never given Reid the time of day and he wouldn't be your prince charming yet. But since you did, he's here already! We're going to have our happily ever afters!"

Emma, knowing he wouldn't be able to tell a difference in her smiles gave him a knowing, wicked grin, "You're absolutely right. We are _all_ going to get our happily ever afters." She smirked as she hugged him once more.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Ruby was counting down the minutes as she waited for Emma to walk in the diner. Henry, Reid and the good sheriff had eaten dinner their the night before and she finally decided to rely on her senses and figured it out. She knew exactly what was up; it something major, and she couldn't keep it to herself anymore.

The door finally chimed, "Well it's about damn time you showed up!" She startled the patrons already dining as she waved the sheriff over, "I have something I need to talk to you about in private." She waved her back into the storage room.

"What the hell has you so riled?"

Ruby looked down, "I like Regina. I've liked her since we moved to this place. This place has been good for her."

Emma waited for more, but when nothing came, she tried to finish the conversation quickly, "Cool." She moved to the door.

"No! I think… Well, that's not right, I know…" She looked down, "I know Regina's scents. I know a lot of people's scents, but I memorized hers a long time ago so I could tell everyone when we needed to run away in the other world. And I re-memorized it here so I could know when the miracle couple was coming, and then again so I could warn you."

"Miracle couple?"

"You and her…" Ruby looked Emma in the eyes, "The way I see it, if the evil queen got a second true love, then that means there's hope for people like me."

"Rubes… I had no idea… That's why you're so…" She waved her hands around, "With me and Regina, isn't it."

"Yeah… But I think… I think Regina's gone off the deep end, and I don't know how long she's going to last."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked seriously.

"Reid."

Emma's eyes widened subtly. It was so subtle that a normal person wouldn't have noticed. Only a shape-shifter with keen senses could have possibly seen it. The blonde quickly recovered from her slight and knit her brows in question, "What? Reid is… out there?"

Ruby's ears perked and her jaw dropped, "Oh my gods, you know!"

"Know what?"

"Regina is Reid! How do you know?!"

Emma's eyes widened and she felt herself reacting before she could do anything about it. She threw Ruby into the shelving unit behind her, her arm landing over the werewolf's upper chest, the other grabbing her wrist, both actions causing the half-wolf to growl, "I'm going to say this one time, Ruby. You hear me?" Emma's nostrils were flared.

"Yes."

"Everything that you think you've picked up with your freakish senses is right. But hear this! If you tell anyone, everything will go to shit." Tears began to suddenly, rapidly escape her eyes as she sucked in a sob, "It's the only way. It's the only way we can be together. If she does what she's doing."

Ruby pushed Emma's arm from her chest and enveloped her friend in a hug, "Hey, I'm not going to tell." She held the woman tight as Emma released her grip on her wrist.

"It's the only way." Emma's tone was helpless.

Ruby swayed with her a moment in a calming manner, "No one is going to find out, okay? You can trust me with this. So can she."

Emma pulled from her and nodded. She took a moment to collect herself then placed her hands on her hips, "Sorry… for shoving you into the food…"

Ruby smiled, "It's okay. But if you do it again, I'll go wolf on your ass so hard…" the threat was playful, but Emma could tell she wasn't lying.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma, Henry, Charming and Snow were sitting in a booth a week or so later for lunch, "So, basically since it's our 17th date tonight—and that's a lot for a girl like me—what I was wanting to ask was if you guys could watch Henry for me tonight?"

"Mom, I can take care of myself, I'm twelve."

"It's not that, kid." Emma assured him.

"But Emma, if you trust him then why do you need us to come over?" Charming asked.

"I don't need you to come over." Emma placed her face in her hands as she felt the intense blush spread. She took a moment, in hopes that it went down and she wasn't as red as she felt she was, "I was wondering if he could spend the night with you…"

Snow finally understood and with that understanding, she let out a consecutive high-pitched, "OH! OH! OH!" before she looked around and covered her mouth. After a moment, she collected herself to apologize to the tables still looking their direction, "I'm so sorry." She calmed too, "Of course we can take him for the night."

"Why do I have to go over there?"

"Henry do you not want to spend time with us?" Snow asked like any grandparent would.

"No, I do…" He didn't know how to make his way out of this one.

"Hey kid, how about you go to the counter and get a cocoa?" Emma gave him some money.

"Thanks mom." He dashed to the front.

Snow leaned in, "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Emma stared at her mother uncomfortable, "I'd rather not discuss it. But yes, I am sure."

"Ready for what?" Charming asked, still blissfully ignorant.

"Hey Ruby!" Henry greeted as he sat on a stool, "Can I have a cocoa please?"

"Sure kid." She smiled. She'd been debating on talking with him about Regina since she saw Emma so broken almost three months before, but always thought better of it. However, now—Now that she knew something rather important, she decided the talk was needed.

She got his cocoa for him and added the whipped cream and cinnamon before she leaned forward to talk with him, "Hey how's your mom?"

"She's good. She wants me to spend the night with grandma and grandpa because of her date with Reid. I think it's some sort of special date…" He shrugged.

"Oh… My…" Ruby smirked at that bit of information, "That's good for her, but I was meaning your other mom…"

"Oh…" He took a sip, "I don't know… Good I guess. Last time I talked to her, she said she was busy with work and healing potions."

"Last time you talked to her… When was the last time you talked to her?"

"Just before I met Reid." He smiled up at the waitress, "He's awesome." He said as a side comment, "I had wanted to meet him, but he wasn't at the shop, he was here eating with my mom, so I went to the mayor's office so I wouldn't get in trouble for missing school… But that blew up in my face. Mom knew the whole time and I got in trouble the day after I met him."

"Why do you not like spending time with her?"

"Because she's a monster. She's murdered people without care. She's evil."

Ruby leaned forward, "You know, in the other world, when I turned because I didn't have my cloak, I ate people, entire fleets of people and I didn't care. I was a monster in the other world. I was evil…"

Henry shook his head, "No, you tried to rectify it and you fought _with_ grandma and grandpa not against them, it's different."

"Is it? She's trying to rectify her ill deeds." She sighed, "Henry, all I'm saying is that our past lives should not define the one we are living now…"

The boy knit his brows and nodded in thought as he finished up his cocoa and walked back to his table.

~0~0~0~0~0~

It was Reid and Emma's 17th official date. Their 17th. Emma and Reid walked up the sidewalk that led to Emma and Henry's house. Reid opened the front gate for Emma and walked her up the pathway.

"I had a good time tonight, _Reid_." Emma said flirtatiously.

"Yes, I did as well…" Reid traced the zipper of the blonde's infamous red leather jacket.

Emma took the hand tracing her jacket, "Thanks for paying; I mean, we could have gone halfsies—"

"Nonsense." Reid gave her a happy, serene smile, "I asked you out for tonight, so I paid. You can get it next time. That's the deal"

"Alright, I will!" Emma's hand reached up and her finger's traced Reid's face before wrapping delicately around the back of his neck and pulling him in.

Emma felt Reid's built figure begin to shrink. She pulled away and saw Regina in Reid's oversized clothing, "What the hell…? Why is this happening?"

Regina looked out at the vacant street, paranoid that someone was watching. Emma quickly pushed the woman inside, "Why are you, you and not Reid? How did that happen? I thought you said that it would last as long as you wanted it to… that it didn't have a time limit."

Regina looked at her offended that Emma had such doubt in her magical ability, "It doesn't!" She had her hands on her hips, mainly holding up her pants rather than to show annoyance or frustration, "But there's this little thing called true love's kiss that can break any form of trick magic, that's any light, joking spell or any curse. Not just dark magic."

"But to be clear, turning into a different person even if they're made up is dark magic right?"

Regina mulled it over in her head, "Technically. But in this case, it's practically the same as the 'be your inner you' spell, which doesn't define a person based on how they look or what gender they are, it changes the exterior to match the interior."

Emma knit her brows, "So… are we dealing with a lot more than wanting to love each other. Are you telling me that you'd rather be Reid over Regina?"

"Physically?" Regina asked with raised brows, "Darling you wouldn't be able to live without my ass." She took in a breath to turn serious once more, "No, I do not feel as though I should be a man, but I do feel more myself when I'm disguised as Reid. I can hang out and play guitar all day. I can eat meals with you and Henry and he is genuinely smiling at me and with me. There's no malice or doubt there. It's like we're a family. We're really together."

"Yeah, but at what cost? I mean, any time I kiss you this could happen…?"

"Yes." Regina nodded. "That's why I got so scared at the shop when you Eskimo kissed me…"

Emma's eyes widened as she pointed at the other woman, faux offended, "That's not fair! You were playing our song!" she sighed as her thoughts went back to the subject at hand, "We are in way over our heads."

"We are."

"There's no real good way out of this, is there?"

"With our track record? I'm going to say that we are not going to get the understanding and acceptance that at the very least _you_ of all people deserve, no. We are going to be put through the ringer. Again." Regina pulled her pants up again and walked a few feet away. She felt eyes on her and turned back.

Emma's pupils had dilated; she was done thinking about the impending doom. She needed to live in the present and Regina needed it just as much as she did. "You're so damn cute trying to walk around in those pants."

"You're one to talk. You're sexy as ever in that damn jacket." The brunette smiled coyly.

"You love my jacket." Emma said arrogantly.

"I do."

"You love me."

"I do."

"I love you."

"You do."

Emma grinned wide as she and Regina seemed to magically pull each other until their bodies were pressed tight and their hands were running over anything they could touch or rip off, "We're going to make love after too damn long."

"We are." Regina nodded as she pulled the blonde into a mind-numbing kiss.

**AN: Okay, like I said up top, everyone knew Reid was Regina, but did everyone know that Emma knew the whole time? As always, let me know your feels!**


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning Henry was up, showered and dressed before his grandparents even came from their bedroom.

"Hey, I was wondering when you guys would wake up." He said, "You think we can go home now? I'll bet that Reid and Emma are done with their date…"

Snow could see the innocent excitement in his eyes, "Henry, I don't think that's such a good idea. Let's stay here for breakfast and we can leave whenever we're all done with everything that needs to be done… and it's done… it's all super done, done, done, alright?"

Henry shuffled around, "Alright. But only because your cooking is better than my mom's."

Snow smiled and looked to her husband, "Let's get to cooking." She said it in a tone that told him they were going to take their time—so everything could be super done, done, done.

"Yes, dear."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina woke up wrapped in sinewy arms and soft comforters. She snuggled further into the hold she was in and felt a mess of blonde hair begin to tickle her back. When she turned, Emma burrowed in her pillow. Regina turned so she was facing the blonde and moved the wall of hair from her face and kissed her cheek twice before moving to her jaw line.

The blonde finally stirred and moved for a real kiss.

"Good morning, my love."

"G'morningIloveyou." It came out in one word, but Regina understood.

"I love you too." She kissed her again before whispering, "I'm going to make breakfast. What would you like?"

"I don't have any breakfast food! Not the good kind!" The blonde, who still hade yet to open her eyes, whined.

"We have magic, darling."

"Oh." Her brows and ears perked as the corners of her mouth twitched upward, "Umm… I want pancakes and bacon and eggs."

"Okay. You stay here as long as you want." Regina smiled and kissed the blonde again. She grabbed Reid's undershirt and boxers. She slipped into the boxers and rolled them a couple times so they would stay up; then she slipped the undershirt on and went downstairs to start breakfast.

Emma came down a bit later in Reid's button up. She walked up behind Regina and kissed her neck a couple times before moving so she could just hold her and watch her cook. "I've wanted this for so long."

Regina moved her free hand up and caressed Emma's cheek, "I have too." She stared into those green orbs that she loved so much for a moment before turning back to the pan.

Once breakfast was ready, Emma sat in a chair and Regina sat in her lap. They didn't know how often or how long they were going to be able to do things like this, so they decided they were going to make the most of it. They were so wrapped up in cherishing the present that they didn't hear the front door until it was too late.

"You promised!"

It was two words. Two words that sent literal chills down Regina's back. The brunette's shutter was not for effect, it was in fear. She'd heard the two words before from her son and she knew that something bad was going to happen next.

They both turned to see his hurt face and the confused, shocked and more hurt than angry faces of Snow White and Prince Charming.

Emma looked to Regina to see the horrified shock drain the color of her face and she could tell what thoughts were running through her mind. She stood them both up and walked her over to the corner of the counter before turning, keeping her out of harm's way from her parents and their son.

She took a big breath, "We did promise Henry. But you know what? At the end of the day, it's Regina I want to be with and nothing is ever going to change that."

"What about Reid?!" He had tears in his eyes.

"Reid?" Emma looked at him, "That gallant guy that you like?"

"Your boyfriend!"

"Yes, my boyfriend." Emma nodded along with him, "Reid is an amazing person. I think we can all agree with that, right? He's perfect actually. He's perfect for me. So here you are wondering why I'm with the evil queen? Again? That's what's going through your mind?"

"Yeah…" Charming said deadpan. His eyes had been darting between Regina and Emma since they got there.

"Show 'em." She turned to Regina. Regina looked hesitant, but Emma insisted, "Show. Them." She gave the brunette a tear-filled gaze and a nod of encouragement.

Regina nodded and untucked the boxers (she didn't want to embarrass herself further by showing off her man-goodies). Holding the boxers in place, she closed her eyes and purple smoke began to make its way around her, slowly up her body.

"I do love Reid." Emma said seriously as she turned to her family once more as the smoke enveloped Regina, "But that is only because Reid is my one true love." She felt a large hand on her shoulder and turned her head to see the tall, male version of her true love, "It's only because Reid is Regina."

Charming, Henry and Snow all stood there mouth agape.

"That's right. They guy you love, the person that's perfect for me is the same person that you've adamantly tried to keep away from me." The blonde swallowed and looked down, "We knew that we had to show you Regina with absolutely no suspicion from any of you. That's why we created Reid instead of Rachel or Reagan or Remy or some other female, which I know you all would have been fine with. I mean, you two." She gestured to her parents, "You accepted Regina aside from your thinking she was pure evil, so I knew that another woman wouldn't repel your thoughts." She pursed her lips, "We knew that Reid would be the furthest possible connection to Regina." She turned to look at him, "Except for his eyes. They're all Regina." She stroked the man's cheek once before turning back to her family.

"I'm ashamed of all of you. Of all of this town. Everyone except for Ruby. She's the only one who ever gave Regina and me genuine encouragement. She's the only one that saw Regina for who she was. She's the only one who ever saw her as not evil." She leaned against Reid, "This perfect definition of a knight in love. This man. This man that everyone thinks I need to marry and spend the rest of my life with and have a family with is the same woman that has been trying to break the 'evil' from her name since it was added. None of you truly gave Regina a chance. But in comes Reid; the person that Regina wants to be, the person that Regina could be, the person that Regina is and you welcome him with open arms! What the double standard?! Are you freaking kidding me?"

She paused a moment before she continued while she still had the floor, "And what's more, none of you saw the way I looked at him and even tried to compare it to the way I looked at Regina. You'd find that if you did, you'd have figured it out a hell of a lot sooner. I'm done with everyone's hypocritical bullshit." She said seriously. "Regina is Reid no matter what form she takes. What the two of us have is true love, otherwise this wouldn't happen." She turned and kissed Reid's lips.

The three stooges watched as Reid once more became Regina.

"I wanted you like that so he could see you when I say this to him." Emma stroked Regina's cheek as the brunette tucked the boxers once more to fit, before pecking her once more and turning to their son, "You know. She gave you a good damn life. She never made you want for anything. She gave you everything I never would have been able to. She's done nothing but love you and dote on you since you came to her. She did nothing wrong raising you. But you stand there and you stood there repeatedly and kept the 'evil' to her name, you've hurt her repeatedly and all she wants is love. She's like a beaten dog and that, for the last twelve years has been your fault. You need to take responsibility for that."

"Emma that is a little harsh." Snow started.

"It's the truth." Her no-nonsense tone made her mother back off. She looked at him again, "Regina gave you everything you wanted yet you still came and found me." She gave a sad smile, "I love you, kid. I'm always going to love you. You're my son. But you're her son too. She loves you as much as I do. That's why she gave you everything. That's why you've never wanted for anything. You've had a good twelve years getting everything you want. But things are going to change."

She inhaled deeply, "As the great philosopher Jagger once said, 'You can't always get what you want,' and you Henry, you're not going to get what you want. Not when if comes to this. You want your mother and me to be far, far apart from each other, you don't want us to be together, you want us—no not us, just me to find love with someone else. Welp, we tried that out, didn't like it. Because I have news for you: What you said was impossible was so completely possible it was plausible. So while you're not getting what you want, your mother and I are getting what we need. Tell you what once you've suffered as long as we have, once you've gone through all the crap we've gone through, if in 30 to 36—"

"66"

"66?" Emma whipped her head around to Regina in surprise, "Damn!" She turned back to Henry, "30 to 66 years—no, the latter of that time frame—no! The latter half of year 66, you are still as sure as you are now that Regina and I don't belong together, then you are more than welcome to start complaining to us and you will be more than welcome to get what you want then. But, with the way I eat, I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, so there's going to be no point in your complaining."

She took a breath and Regina stopped her and took over, "Emma isn't trying to make you into our enemy. She's trying to tell you that you've lived a good life even if you don't see it as such. She's trying to tell you that you didn't have to live through the kind of ridicule and mistakes and anger and utter vileness that we had to endure. Right here, right now, you have two parents who love and want to be with you. She's trying to tell you that you might not see it because in your mind, I am still the evil queen, but there is incredible potential for us to have the happy ending we all want. We can all have love and a family."

Henry stayed silent for a full minute, thinking it over. Then, in an eerily calm voice, "That's not what this is potential for." He shook his head as he looked between his two mothers, "I understand that's what you're trying to say, mom. But that's not a possibility." He looked down, "If you both don't mind, I think I want to stay with Grandma and Grandpa a while."

"Do you want to do that because we lied to everyone or because we just told you how it was going to be and you still think your mom's evil?" Emma asked, the seriousness of her question causing Snow to clutch Charming's arm and Regina to clutch Emma's.

Henry looked down. He didn't say anything.

"Emma, we don't mind looking after him until all of this blows over…" Charming tried as he patted his wife's hand on his arm in comfort.

Emma shook her head as she instinctively covered Regina's hand on her arm in the same comfort her father was subconsciously giving her mother, "No that won't be necessary." She looked at her son, "Henry, you are more than welcome to hate us and you can move out, but that's only in one of the two options I'm gonna give you: 1. You and I can move out of here and into the mansion with Regina. 2. Regina's gonna come live with us. You don't get to go to grandma's and grandpa's; it's not gonna work like that."

Snow tried this time, "Emma, it's really all right with us if you want—"

"I said 'no'. He is _our_ son." She gestured between her and Regina, "He is our son and the three of us need to work out our problems together."

Snow still felt the need to put in her two cents, "But Emma. This kind of situation can be very trying on a child his age. If he feels he wants to live with us for a bit; we'd love to have him—"

"And who or what made you so proficient in child-rearing?!" Regina barked. She didn't know where it came from, so after the words came out she scrunched her face as she took herself aback.

"Certainly not raising my own child because I didn't get to do that! Oh, and who's fault was that? Let me think about it! Oh wait! I remember it was _you_! You had to curse us all here to get revenge for something that no one except for your own vile mother is responsible for!"

"HEEEEEY!" Emma's roar startled everyone in the room into sickening silence before anyone else could even try to talk, "You." She pointed to her mother, "You watch what you say around her. You know how to provoke her, but you know that she's changed. So if you do something to make her slip, we'll all know that Snow White should really be named Snow Black." She put her hand up to stop her, "And no, I don't care that I just said that about my mother because I know that my mother, if she's the woman I believe I know, will never need to be called Snow Black." She turned to Regina to look at her, "And you." She waited until she had the woman's eyes, "Don't let her get to you."

Regina nodded and turned to them, "I'm sorry for my outburst; it's just that Emma and I are his parents and we're trying to parent him and you keep trying to give him what he wants, which is what you're supposed to do. You are his grandparents, but not in this situation. This is more a parent-child issue that grandparents shouldn't be a part of. Please. Accept my apology?"

Snow nodded, "For my daughter? Anything."

"Of course." Charming nodded.

Emma turned to Henry, "Why are you so sure that she can't change when clearly, she has?"

"Well… there has to be a villain in every story. And she's got evil in her name. She always, eventually goes down the dark path and when she does she's going to hurt everyone."

Emma gave him a hard look before asking, "Kid… Did you actually sit down and read your mom's story?" He nodded, "And was she born the evil queen?" He shook his head, "Exactly. She was a miller's daughter. She was young and happy and innocent. She was made evil. She was dubbed evil. I mean, I'm a good person mostly but I could start calling myself the evil savior or the bad savior, spread it around town, and I could just as easily be dubbed the fallen savior because I fell in love with the evil queen."

"But that's not true. No one specifically dubbed her as evil. It all started at once because she became evil and people just knew…."

"No Henry, they didn't. Someone did add evil to her name." Snow, who had felt like she was being slowly tortured throughout this part of the conversation came forward.

"Who?"

"I did." She took a breath and looked at the women before her, though she was still talking to Henry, "Granted, at the time she _was_ evil. At the time, she was sending men after me to end my life. But she's not after my life anymore. She not after any life. She just wants her family, her son and her lover to love her." She looked back to her daughter then to the not-so-evil queen with shiny eyes. She was trying to silently apologize for her ill deeds.

Henry had been told countless times by countless people now that his brunette mom wasn't evil in this world: his brunette mom, his blonde mom, Ruby, Gayle and now his grandma and he was sure by extension his grandpa. But he knew deep down inside that there was something that didn't fit the puzzle right. And it had to do with his mothers. He just couldn't support it even if that made him hypocritical and it made his blonde mother ashamed of him. He knew something was off.

**AN: That stupid Henry! He's such a douche! Always causing problems! On a different note, BlueStar77, hope I answered your question about Reid's anatomy!**

**Also on another irritating note (yes, I am ranting and yes, I know I am ranting and yes, please feel free to skip all of this)… A Guest that reviewed yesterday (for chapter 1 if you're really interested), as I understand it, thinks that I have been encouraging and 'indulging' homophobia. That is not my intention. At all. Never was. Never will be. I'm gay; I don't want or think I should ever have to deal with that shit. I know that this Guest said that they weren't going to read anymore chapters, but in case they do decide to finish the story, I wanted them to know this: I did not start posting chapter 2 on until I had the entire thing written, so everything said in this chapter was written a while ago and not because of your review. I turned Regina into a guy to make it a bigger 'fuck you' to everyone. I had Henry say 'prince' whenever talking about Emma's 'prince charming' not because he's homophobic and wants her to be with a man, but simply because that's the term. While, yes, it implies the male gender role, I didn't mean, nor did Henry mean for any gender role to apply. It's meant to be Emma's 'person charming' but that doesn't sound good. Emma and Regina are not encouraging homophobia in this story, they are not falling at its will. I did not turn Regina into a guy to 'get around' homophobia, I turned her to Reid so there would be less suspicion on anyone's minds except Ruby for obvious reasons. In this story, Henry is an asshole that honestly and truly thinks Regina is still the epitome of evil; and he's smart. He would have figured it out if Regina turned into a woman… I was playing it out in my mind and he did because naturally, I first decided on a woman named Remy and wanted to give a shout out to all the Camteeners out there. But I didn't because Henry is a smart asshole and he figured it out. He has absolutely no problem with his moms being together except that Regina is pure evil (again in his mind). That's it. That's how he thinks of her. It's actually as simple as it can possibly be. There is no homophobia in this story. Sorry 'bout ya if you read too much into it… But homophobia was the furthest thing from my mind when I wrote it. Preferably it's always the furthest thing from my mind.**

**I apologize for my rant. Now, I'm going to perk up and say: As always, let me know your feels!**


	7. Chapter 7

Henry and Emma had been moved into the mansion for about a month. Needless to say, Henry was very unwilling to do anything. Everything became a fight with him. Also needless to say, Emma wanted to kick his bitch baby ass, but Regina wouldn't let her.

He was cooped up in his room, away from the 'impending disaster area'. Emma and Regina had been sitting on the couch in the living room. Regina had that ebony Gibson Dove on her knee, "You know I've found the song that fits you perfectly."

Emma grinned, "Oh yeah, what's that?"

"'Man Who Can't Be Moved'."

"The Script? Really?"

Regina nodded, "You can't. You don't sway for love. You don't sway for me. You can't be moved. You're strong and stable."

Emma crab-walked from her side of the couch to suction herself to Regina's side. She kissed her cheek, "Play it."

Regina kissed her lips and began the song. In the middle of the chorus they both heard the front door slam shut. Immediately, Regina poofed leaving behind the guitar and Emma.

Henry barreled into her as he didn't see her puff of smoke form at the end of the walkway. She held onto him to make sure he didn't fall. Once he straightened he tried to move around her, but she stopped him.

"Let me go."

"No."

"Mom! Please! Let me go! Let me go! I can't… I can't! Just please let me go!" Henry had tears in his eyes and his look was completely desperate.

Regina shook her head and placed her hands on her hips more for her own strength than to intimidate him, "No."

"Why?"

"Because you and I need to talk."

"Well, you're a little busy with my mom all the time."

"Henry…" Regina slowly reached out and ran her fingers gently through his hair and down his cheek to his chin so that his eyes would go to hers, "We've been trying to give you space. Trying to show you that we as a couple are not this evil force you think we'll become… We've been waiting for you to talk to _us_. We know we can talk to you; we also know that you give us grunts and one word answers before running to your room and slamming the door."

"Well, what do you want from me?" He pushed her hand from his face and crossed his arms in defense.

"My son." The tears came to her eyes before she could stop them, urge them back.

He stared at her then looked down and started kicking at the pavement, "I'm right here."

"No." She shook her head, "You aren't."

"I want to be here. I want to believe that you won't hurt my mom. I want to trust you and love you because mom thinks you deserve it and she's got good instincts. But I… I just… can't… I don't know why I can't, I just can't!"

"If I were to show you everything I have hidden from you, would that change your mind?"

"I don't know." He muttered.

Regina gave a resolute sigh. "Henry?"

"What?"

She offered her hand, "Come on."

He took her hand trusting her. Something changed in the look she gave him when she offered the hand that compelled him to take it and trust her. Then, Regina marched them back inside.

"Where the hell did you think you were—"

"No, no." Regina put a hand up and non-magically hushed the blonde from scolding their son, "Not now. You can talk to him later. Now it's Regina-Henry time." She ushered to boy ahead of her and marched him to the door that lead to the basement.

They got down there and the witch magicked the lights on, "Everything down here is or can be used for magic. I have potions, remedies, spell books, curse books, artifacts—few things you probably didn't even think were possible. We can go through all of it. You can ask me anything. You can come down here anytime so long as you're supervised."

Henry looked around the room and saw what looked like a mini-lab set up, "What's that?" He pointed.

"Oh." She said after seeing what he was pointing at, "Dr. Whale had a patient earlier this week with necrotizing fasciitis."

"Necro-what?"

"Flesh eating bacteria."

"Coooool." The boy made his way over to the microscope and looked in the lenses.

Regina hid her grin and continued on, "But the most peculiar thing about the case was that it came on from what seemed to be nothing. Turned out the man was a fae. A dream weaver in particular, and had entered the subconscious of a very scared, very imaginative young boy, who planted the bacteria in a pond in his dream."

"And that gave the actual guy the bacteria?"

Regina nodded, "Dr. Whale had to put him in therapy to work on not harming, or scaring the beings' dreams he enters, and I had to tweak a potion here and there to bend to the will of the boy's dream bacteria versus the real stuff."

~0~0~0~0~0~

After going through most of the stuff in the basement, Regina poofed them to her father's tomb. They pushed the grave aside together and went below.

"I know you've been here before, but I wanted to give you the chance to ask me anything you wanted to know…"

Henry stared at a wooden box, but kept behind his mother. He knew that box. He knew that the snakes were in that box, "How do those things stay alive if they're in that box and have been in that box for so long?"

Regina smirked, "They're magical. They're like genie's, but you don't have to rub the box and you don't get three wishes. You have to tell them what you want before you let them out and as long as they get to kill, they're happy."

"Why keep them?"

"Well, I'd certainly hate for them to get into the wrong hands…" She said seriously.

Henry nodded and looked around. He pulled the curtain on the wall of hearts, "Are these them?"

"These them?"

"Are these the hearts of all the people you've taken?"

Regina took in a shaky breath, "They were, yes."

"They were?"

She waved the small vaults open and let Henry look inside.

"There's nothing in them…" He looked up in question.

"Yes…" She nodded, "I had lots of time as the mayor when I wasn't Reid. I told Gayle to call all the people that the hearts belonged to and I gave them back. Also, on a completely unrelated note, I decided to add onto the park to make it larger and more convenient for everyone." She shrugged.

Henry knit his brows, "How was I able to talk to you if Reid was having breakfast with my mom that one time?"

"Reid was having breakfast with your mother, but I had Gayle's calls to me sent to my cell and I magicked it so that my voice would alter through the connection. So, when she told me that you wanted to see me, I told her I'd be right there, I told Emma you were there and not to worry, and walked out of the diner to the alley then poofed as myself back to my office."

Henry had wide, interested eyes as he nodded, "That's kind of cool. I mean, it's mean because you were lying and deceiving, but it's kind of cool." He sat on the ground and looked around at everything.

Regina joined him on the ground, "Yeah, I know a lot of cool things… I could show you sometime. I'm sure you have magic in you somewhere. Your mother does, she just refuses to learn."

"Why my mom?" Henry asked as he sat back on his hands and looked at his brunette mother. Regina gave him a questioning look, "Why her? Why is she the savior? Why is she in love with you if you're the evil queen?"

"I don't know." Regina shook her head and shrugged as she spoke, then thought a moment, "Rumple made it so. And as for her love, I didn't ask for it. It just… happened."

"How?"

"How did it happen?"

He nodded, "How did you fall in love with her?"

Regina smiled and looked down. She played with the dirt as she thought about it, "The moment I knew I was in love with her was just as I thought our fifth date was ending. On our fourth she asked what I'd always secretly loved. She knew from my story in that book of yours that I love riding horses, but she wanted to know if there was anything else I loved more. I told her it was music." She looked at him and decided to explain, "When I saw the lutenist at the balls my mother made me go to, I always wanted to play duets. I'd secretly stowed a lute away and taught myself when my mother wasn't around. I became pretty good if I do say so myself." She gave the boy a grin.

"You're good at guitar…" He provided.

"Yes. Here in this land I rather enjoy guitar. I know I never really played the one we had when you were awake or at home, but I played in my down time." She shook her head to get back on track, this opening up to her son stuff just kind of opened up a floodgate, "Anyways… On our fifth date, Emma took me to the stables and we rode a horse together for a while, but your mother kept hinting that we should go in certain directions." She smiled in memory of Emma's antics, "Eventually we wound up at the top of a hill under a tree at a clearing that overlooked all the trees and a couple ponds and the ocean on the horizon. She had a picnic basket set up under the tree before we got there… It was beautiful."

Her smile widened to a grin, then as she looked to Henry, she became serious, alerting the boy that she was getting to the point of his question, "Then as the evening turned to night, we went back to the stables and she wanted to 'explore'. She said she'd never really been inside a stable and wanted to see what was above the horses. Begrudgingly, thinking we weren't supposed to go up there, I followed her up the ladder to find a shiny new, ebony Gibson Dove."

"That guitar you were playing when I met you.. When I met Reid"

"Yes." She nodded, "I was shocked, but Emma told me it was okay to be up in that loft and that I could play it. So I did. That moment was when I knew I was in love with her. We eventually went back home for a while and I played her the song I was singing when you both came into the shop."

"So that's why Reid opened up a music shop and was a lutenist in the other realm. Because you love music so much?"

"Yes…" She said with a genuine smile.

"But how did it happen?"

"What? The two of us? How did we begin?" Henry nodded in answer, "She initiated it. And I… couldn't stop her."

"Why?"

"She's just so damn…charming, like her father. She wouldn't shut up or take no for an answer."

"So, wait. You… you tried to stop her?"

Regina gave a genuine laugh, "Of course I tried to stop her! She was supposed to be my enemy... She was supposed to hurt me. But she didn't. She saved me from everything. She saved me from myself. That's all she does is save me."

This whole time, he'd thought that she had pursued Emma, not the other way around. He thought that Emma was under some sort of fascination curse or spell or something that made her want the other woman so much that she actually fell in love with her. But he was wrong. This whole time he'd been wrong. His blonde mother wanted his brunette mother, and his brunette mother tried to push her away.

This changed everything.

"Emma asked you?" He looked into his mother's eyes and saw what he didn't think he saw on her and Emma's first 17th date. He saw complete compassion, adoration and hope.

"Yes…" Regina saw the panicked look on his face and when she noticed his breathing become erratic, she pushed onto her knees, "Is everything alright? Henry." She put her hands out, silently asking what she could do.

He'd never felt like this before. He couldn't catch his breath. He realized he was crying as it finally dawned on him, "I was the enemy!" He screamed and continued crying.

Regina quickly enveloped him in a hug, "Shh… It's all right. It's all right. I'm right here." She swayed with him, soothing him. "You're not the enemy, honey." She kissed his hair.

"Yes." He said through a sob, "Yes I am! I thought I was doing what was right, I thought I was protecting the savior, but I was wrong!"

Regina sat with him and rocked him back and forth much like she did when he was young and had had a nightmare, "Calm down, Henry." She ran her fingers through his hair and down his back, "We have time. There's plenty of time to talk."

Eventually Henry calmed. He had fallen sideways against Regina's front, holding one of her arms tight. His head rested on the crook of the arm he was holding and he stared down at her shoes. One of his hands moved to hers and held tight.

"I was the bad guy." He said hoarsely.

"And why do you think that?" Regina, with her free hand stroking his head and shoulder, asked.

"Because I kept you guys apart. I… I thought that's what the book said needed to happen. I thought… I thought…" He shrugged.

"You thought you were protecting someone you loved."

"But I ended up hurting everybody…" He sighed, "The book said that my mom was the savior and my other mom was the evil queen and that Emma needed to save everyone." He swallowed hard and inhaled a ragged breath, "I just thought that that meant that she had to defeat you, she had to be your enemy. I didn't think, not even once… It _never_ crossed my mind… Not even when you were both so sad…" He shook his head at himself and took in another shaky breath, "I never thought that maybe she was supposed to save everyone with true love. With her love to you and yours to her. But that's what it is. That's what it has to mean because… because you do love each other and it is true love…" He sat up and looked at her, "That means you did all of this for nothing… Daniel wasn't your true love…"

Regina nodded, "I know. And believe me, I live with the thought everyday. But I can't let it control me; I can't let it bring me down because then I miss out on the good parts of life."

"Like what? Your life hasn't been that good. You had a mother that controlled you and killed your boyfriend in front of you and a son that tried to keep you from your true love."

Regina smiled sadly, "Like that same son realizing his mistake, feeling real remorse for it and trying to fix it… Like getting to have and love my one true love. Getting to finally have that family I've always wanted."

"How do I fix it…?" He asked completely defeated.

"You be you. But listen when others have something to say about certain situations. Don't let your stubbornness control your every thought. Stay open-minded. And apologize to your mother when you see her."

"I really am sorry, mom." He said softly.

"I know, son." She welcomed the hug that he gave.

Emma made her way into the tomb. When she didn't find them in the basement, she got curious and thought Regina might have poofed them there. But, she looked to find her girl and their son in a teary hug; she immediately turned to start making her way right back up the stairs. _Oh it's awkward. It's awkward, it's awkward._ She didn't know why they were crying and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. She didn't like awkward situations. If she was forced into them then she would start to clench up and it would become a whole thing, so up she went. But the voice of the woman she loved stopped her.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

Emma turned and found both Henry and Regina looking at her, still hugging and teary-eyed.

"I…" She pointed, "Up… there…" She tried, "I could tell you were busy having a.. moment there, so I decided I'd go back up…"

"Not so fast, love." Regina and Henry both stood up. The not-so-evil queen placed her hands on the boy's shoulders, "Henry has something he wants to say."

"Oh really?" The blonde came back down the steps and moved so she was a few feet from them both.

Henry nodded and walked over to her, "I'm sorry." He tried to elaborate but couldn't, "I'm sorry…" he said once more as tears filled his eyes again.

Emma grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him in, hugging him tight. She could tell what he was sorry for. She looked over to Regina, "What the hell?"

"He reinterpreted the book." It was all Regina was going to supply until they were alone.

Emma reached out for the other woman to join and the family hugged, finally happy.

**AN: See, what did I tell you? Happy ending. There shall be an epilogue, but that's all that's left. So, for the second to last time for this story: Let me know your feels!**


	8. Chapter 8

Epilogue

A decade came and went. A portal to the other world had opened, and Henry chose to go to one of the newly rebuilt universities in the enchanted forest. He came home on holidays and summer vacations. This was actually his last summer vacation before he truly became an educated adult that needed to seek out a big person job.

Regina did not rerun for mayor after the term she was finishing ten years before. No, she let Charming take her place, and she kept Reid's music shop. That, of course was the big talk of the town for what seemed like forever: Reid turning out to be Regina.

Mainly the town wondered why Charming didn't kill Regina dead for 'violating' his daughter. Surprisingly, Charming was angered at the accusation that he would hurt the person that made his daughter happy. He told the entire town to shove it… Then in an ironic twist, the next week he was elected mayor.

Emma and Regina married a mere three months after the Reid scandal blew up in the town's face, and, well… The entire town died. They died. They were dead, but not really dead. There had never been more gossip about two people than there was in that first year of Emma and Regina's marriage.

The second year, the seventh year, and just the year before weren't much better. See, they'd had a few more kids.

Emma had the twins—after which she swore to never again be the one to be pregnant, Daisy Mae and Ellie Jane who were both the spitting image of Emma, though Ellie was the brunette version of her, were now eight. They were both as stubborn as their mothers. Daisy liked to play dress up (and literally dress up for school; the girl was a little fashionista), have teatime, play with her friends, have sleepovers, and she loved school. Ellie liked to dress like her big brother and granddad; she liked plaid shirts and ties and vests (a fashionista in her own right), and she liked to play sports, play with her friends, but she didn't like sleepovers—she told her moms she didn't like the way some of the other mommies looked at her when she went to them (that became an issue both mothers currently dealt with in intimidating manners). Ellie also loved school.

As Emma and Regina tried and tried for the next five years for another, they decided to get a puppy as well. Trusty, their bloodhound, named after the girls' favorite movie's bloodhound, is now four in human years.

Then, Regina became pregnant with Hunter. Both could tell Hunter was going to look just like Reid, which was quite a compliment to Regina seeing as the man was her male counterpart. It was also a little ironic seeing as Hunter's middle name actually was Reid. Hunter was now two and a half and was musically inclined just like his brunette mother.

The year before they were happily surprised to learn that Regina was pregnant again. Emma did a happy dance after her wife told her, and it wasn't because she was happy to have another baby—which she was!—it was more the fact that it wasn't her. Billie Louise was six months old. She was a lively and happy baby. She had Regina's eyes and hair color and Emma's nose.

~0~0~0~0~0~

The twins ran ahead of Regina with Hunter in tow to get their usual seat. "Come on Hunter." Ellie made sure to keep a firm grasp on his hand while Daisy ran faster to get her favorite seat. "Miss Ruby?" Ellie looked up at her then immediately looked away, "Um, can we have a booster seat?"

Ruby grinned, "Of course, Miss Ellie." Ruby gave her a wink when the girl looked back up at her. She came over with a red booster seat just as Ellie and Hunter got to the table, "Come on, little man." She offered the young boy her hands and the toddler lifted his arms to be put in the seat.

"Oh! Thank you Ruby." Regina walked in with Billie in her arms. Billie and the diaper bag with all the stuff, that was.

"You're welcome, Regina." Ruby smiled and looked around, "Wait, you're missing someone…"

"She's on her way. She had the night shift." Regina sighed.

"Oh, that's too bad. The sheriff shouldn't have to work the night shift."

"You want to take her spot?"

Ruby gave the shop owner a look, "I like you guys an all, really. I mean, you're my aspirational couple, but…" She trailed off.

"You see our problem exactly." Regina smirked as she watched the waitress walk to another table.

"Mommy when is Henny coming?" Hunter asked.

"Henry will be here just as soon as he's moved back in." Regina comforted her toddler as she tried to take her coat off one-handed.

The door chimed once more, "Hey, hey." Emma walked into the diner shrugging off her coat as she walked.

"Momma!" Hunter squealed happily.

Emma grinned as she leaned down and kissed his hair, "Hey little man." She waited for a kiss on her cheek before looking to Regina's lap with a wide grin, "Hey baby girl." Billie squealed as she plucked her from Regina's hold, letting the brunette finally escape the wool confines with ease, "Hey baby." She kissed the woman's lips before moving to the opposite side of the table and sitting, "And hey girls." She said to the two twins.

"Hi Momma." They both said as they decided to take their coats off as well.

"Did you help Mommy last night with Hunter and Billie?" Emma asked the twins as looked down at the six-month-old and smiled, cooing along with her as she stood her up on her legs.

"Yeah." Ellie said.

Emma knit her brows and did a double take to her blonde daughter when she said nothing, "Daisy Mae?"

Daisy looked down, "I got in trouble."

Regina nodded, "Yes, Daisy thought it would be funny if she got some of Trusty's poop and give it to Hunter as chocolate."

Emma laughed and after catching her wife's eye, immediately sobered, "That's not funny." Her mom-tone was strong. "Why did you think you could do that, little miss?"

She shrugged, "I was bored."

"You were bored…"

"Yeah, and Mommy wouldn't let me have any friends over."

"Why didn't you play with your sister?"

"Because she and Hunter were playing Batman and Robin and that's boring. I wanted to play princess."

"Momma, I told her that she could be the princess and me and Hunter could save her from stuff…"

"That's stupid!" Daisy glared at her sister.

"Your stupid!"

"Hey!" Emma gave them both a look.

"Well, she is! She got a B!"

"Because you were hogging our flashcards!"

Emma looked to her wife. Regina shrugged and let the twins argue this one out. She dug into the diaper bag and came up with a bottle. After filling it with water and mixing in the formula, she handed it over to Emma, who gave it to Billie, who was more than happy to get her breakfast.

Ruby came over once more, "The gang all here?"

"We're expecting one more, Rubes." Regina replied as she handed Emma Billie's food.

Ruby smiled wide, "Henry's coming?"

"Henry's here." He walked into the diner, "Hello family." He said with a grin and made sure to kiss each of his girls' cheeks before sitting next to his brother and hugging him hard, kissing his cheek too, "How has everyone been."

"I almost ate poop." Hunter said as he crawled into Henry's lap.

"Oh… and everyone else? Same old same?"

"Yeah." The twins said for everyone.

Ruby looked at him a moment, "You haven't been the same.. What are you wearing?" She looked at Henry's shirt and pants while shaking her head, "You really need to come here more often. The style is much better." She put a hand out, "Let me give you some advice… Model yourself after your little sister here. This girl is always swagged out." Ruby placed her hands on Ellie's shoulder. "I mean, look at her now. She's got on a vest and bowtie and a fedora…" She gave him a look, "Just sayin'."

"You like the way I dress, Miss Ruby?" Ellie turned around with a blush on her face.

"I really, really do." She smiled wide as Ellie shied away.

"Why do I come back for all this abuse?" Henry joked.

"Because you love your mommies." Ruby started, "And your sisters and brothers." She looked around the table, "You guys know what you want. Usual?"

Everyone nodded looking around before Regina finally confirmed, "Yes, please."

"Ellie, you want sausage or bacon or both?"

"Bacon, please." She refused to look at the waitress.

"Okay, I'll be back with all of your drinks."

As soon as the waitress was gone, Henry was grinning wide at his little sister, "Oooooooooh! Someone has a crush!"

"I do not!" Ellie's brows were furrowed and she crossed her arms.

"Do too!" Daisy didn't hesitate to put in her two cents.

"Do not!"

"Do too! Do too! Do too! Ellie and Ruby sittin' in a tree…"

"Shut up, Daisy!"

Daisy only got louder, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Okay, Daisy…" Regina put her hand on the blonde's back, "Settle down."

"But she likes her!"

"Okay." Regina nodded, "Understood. She doesn't want it advertised, alright? So we're done making fun."

"Fine." Daisy sat back in her chair.

"Ellie?" Emma looked at her daughter, who at this point was absolutely mortified and on the verge of tears, "Sweet pea, you okay?"

Ellie dropped her head on the table and hid from everyone else.

"AAAAABABABABUHBUHBUH!" Billie threw her bottle on the table and tried to reach for her sister.

"Abuhbuhbuhbuhbuh." Emma talked along with the baby as she stood up and scratched her brunette daughter on the back, "Come on, sweet pea." Ellie turned and looked at her mother with her bottom lip jutted a bit. Emma smiled and waved her arm as she started walking with Billie to the game room the diner put in.

"I don't wanna talk about it, Momma." Ellie started as soon as they walked in.

Billie was cooing, excited about the lights, "I know baby, they're so pretty!" Emma said to the baby before looking at her daughter, "I know. You get that from both of your mothers." She placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "You know that it's okay if you like Ruby. It's okay if you like any girl, right? You know that me and your mom aren't special…?"

Ellie nodded, "I know." She hugged her mom. As she planted her face in her mother's side she mumbled, "Miss Ruby's really, really, really pretty."

Emma laughed, "She is. I don't think that there's a person in the world that would deny that."

"Did you like her once, Momma?"

Emma bit her lip in thought, "I… Always thought she was very pretty, but your mommy was the one that ruffled my feathers."

"I think she ruffles my feathers."

Emma grinned but said nothing in comment. Instead she changed the subject, "You all better?" Ellie nodded, "Okay, let's go back with everyone else."

Ellie and Emma walked out holding hands and sat back down.

"What'd you guys talk about?" Daisy asked.

"Nothing." Ellie gave her sister a look.

"Something."

Billie took this opportunity to squeal loudly and excitedly before clapping her hands. Emma, Regina, and the rest of their offspring all jumped in surprise—along with the rest of the diner—and looked to the baby. After getting all the attention she giggled and covered her face like she were playing peek-a-boo. Regina and Emma looked to one another with grins on their faces, still recovering from their daughter.

After breakfast, Henry offered to take the twins and Hunter to the park while Emma walked Regina to the music shop and brought the baby home with her to nap.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina stayed until the mid afternoon and came home to Henry and the twins asleep on the couch with the TV on. She grinned at the sight and reached for the remote.

Henry woke up to the lack of sound, "Hey mom." He said as he leaned forward and pressed his palms to his eyes.

"Hi." Regina looked around, "Where's your brother?"

"He's in his room. He was out before we got home." The young man explained.

"Do you know how long the baby's been asleep?"

He shook his head, "We got home just a little bit ago; the house was quiet."

"Okay, I'm going to go check on her and your mother." Henry stood and walked with his mother to the stairs, "Nah, I'll check on the baby, you go see mom. I know when she works the night shift you don't see her all that much." Once at the top he stopped in front of Billie's room and gestured for her to go to her own.

'Thank you.' Regina mouthed the words before going to check on her wife. She saw a mess of blonde hair, half of a bare leg, half of a bare foot due to a sock that wanted so desperately to be free from its owner and a heap of covers. She kicked off her shoes and moved to the guitar they now kept in their room. She brought it with her as she crawled on the bed. She moved the hair from her wife's face and started planting kisses on her cheek and jaw line.

"Wake up." She whispered.

"Hmph." Emma tried to burrow back into the warmth of the bed.

Regina smirked and pulled the covers down. Emma was wearing a tank top, so she had access to even more skin and began planting kisses all over her shoulder and the half of her face she had access to, "Wake up." She whispered again.

"I don't wanna." Emma said through a yawn.

Regina strummed the open chords softly to get her wife's attention.

The blonde refused to open her eyes, but raised her brows and crossed her arms, "You have my attention."

Regina proceeded to play their song. On the other side of the door, Henry stood with his baby sister. He peeked through the crack of the open door and saw the disgusting adorableness that were his mothers, "And that right there is the biggest reason your brother is a gigantic asshole, Billie. I actually tried to keep Mom and Momma apart, can you believe that?"

The baby cooed quietly, as if she understood him and was telling him that, 'No' she could not believe that he was that big of a gigantic asshole.

Inside the room, Regina set the guitar down on the empty side of the bed and leaned over her wife, "Wake up." She tried again.

"No, I don't wanna. I wanna go back to sleep."

"Well I want you to. If you wake up, we can go to bed early tonight… Henry's here now, he can make sure the little ones get their teeth brushed and go to bed tonight… I bet we could rook him into play big brother."

"We can go to bed early?" Emma's eyes had yet to open, still after 10 minutes. She was a stubborn woman and would not apologize for that.

"Mhmm." Regina kissed her jaw line.

The blonde turned her head, "Kiss?"

Regina smiled and kissed her wife's lips.

"G'morningIloveyou." Emma said by way of usual greeting after Regina woke her up with kisses and/or music.

"I love you too." Regina smiled.

Henry knocked on the door and came in, "Look who was just awake and happy in her crib." He walked in and gave the baby to his blonde mother after Billie practically jumped to the both of them.

Emma grinned as she held Billie up and kissed her cheeks, "Hello, baby girl." She said before hugging the baby close. Regina smiled at the two before leaning in to kiss her wife again.

"Hey, I was thinking that maybe I could try to watch all of them tonight and you guys could rent a room at Grannies?" Henry looked between his mothers.

Regina looked at him as if he were crazy, "And just why do you want to put yourself through that torture?"

"Because you two need a night alone… If you don't trust me alone, I'll bet grandma and grandpa would gladly come over and help…"

"You just got here and already you want the house to yourself." Emma teased as she gave Billie to Regina, "I'm not gonna say 'no', Babe.." she looked at her wife with tired eyes.

Regina gave the blonde a smirk before looking at the boy who had suddenly become a man, "Are you still trying to make up for Reid and everything that happened before him?"

Henry looked off to the side quickly and 'pff'd. Then he looked down at the carpet, "Always." He nodded solemnly. He looked between the two of them, "Always." He said again, "And because I know that you haven't had a night to yourselves since Billie was born and you deserve it."

Emma stood and reached up, patting her son's cheek, "You can stop feeling guilty, you know. You are a good person. You are an amazing son and brother. You hear me?"

"Yeah, Ma, I hear you."

"Okay." She moved from beside him and started stretching, "I'm gonna call Granny, Babe." She grabbed her phone before she went to the bathroom.

"She's right, Henry. It's time to stop feeling guilty. You're practically twice the age you were when all of that happened and you really thought you were doing the right thing."

"I don't know why I ever thought you were evil…" His throat was suddenly constricted and sucked in a quick breath before turning from his mother.

"Henry, Henry!" Regina grabbed him by his neck and pulled him into a hug with her and Billie, "It's okay."

Henry felt a tiny hand on his cheek and he turned to look at baby Billie, "Abababababubububuh." The baby's tone was as consoling as her mother's.

"Thank you, Billie." He took her from her mother and hugged her, causing the baby to giggle.

Emma came back out, "Are we gonna eat dinner here or just lunch?"

"Darling you've slept through lunch…" Regina replied as she looked to her wife.

"I… What? I _slept_ through lunch?"

"Yes, it's almost four o'clock." Regina laughed at the woman's reaction, "We'll have an early dinner then call your parents and tell them to come over if they want to spend time with all their grandchildren before we leave, alright?"

Emma nodded, "I don't think I've slept through lunch since I got pulled into the enchanted forest via wraith… Kid, I don't know how you stand the food over there."

"Ma, we can get burgers and stuff. Just because they dress differently in the enchanted forest doesn't mean life is the same…"

"Good, 'cause killing what you want to eat… Not a big fan of that." She shook her head and took her wife's hand, leading them all down the stairs, "When is early dinner?"

Regina rolled her eyes, "How about we wait until 5:30."

"Can I have a snack?" the blonde asked like she was one of the kids.

"Yes, darling you can have a snack."

Emma clapped her hands and smiled wide.

"Happy."

**AN: Tell me, do you at least a little bit like Henry now? A certain Lonewolf told me in the last chapter that they wanted a flashback of Emma's actual pursuing of Regina… I've been toying with a prequel starting from that point to maybe the asking of the 17th official date. If you all are interested please tell me here and/or over on tumblr! Or if you want more of this fluffiness with all the kiddies and the happy, maybe I can write both? You tell me!**

**Let me know your feels now that we've reached the end!**


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